"Nashville is at a crucial juncture in its history. We are not yet a truly diverse city,
but we are about to become one, and the real question is, Can we do it right?"
Detention of children at CCA facility is focus of Least of These documentary and World Refugee Day protest; company initially said no to keeping kids
Movie and protest bring Hutto to forefront this month
CCA: "We are not in the business of making moral decisions on U.S. public policy"
"We said no initially"
There's a new movie out - and also a protest later this month - about the federal government's detention of children at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center ("Hutto"), which is operated by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America ("CCA").
The protest is scheduled for June 20, the third consecutive World Refugee Day on which a protest will be held at Hutto.
Overview of child detention controversy and Hutto facility
The complaints against Hutto center around these two issues: (1) whether the federal government (and its contractors like CCA) should be detaining children at all, and (2) if so, under what conditions should children be detained.
In regard to the first issue - whether children should be detained at all - everyone agrees on one point: families should not be separated. The question is how to keep track of them once a parent has been apprehended by immigration authorities. The federal government argues that keeping track of families requires detention of parents along with their children. Opponents argue that families can be successfully monitored through methods other than detention.
In regard to the second issue - if children are to be detained, under what conditions - was the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by the ACLU in 2006, which resulted in a settlement. After the judge ruled that ACLU was highly likely to succeed, the federal government agreed to specific changes, and the Hutto facility was subjected to monitoring by a court magistrate through 2009. No violations of that settlement have been reported.
Opponents of child detention in general have targeted at least three entities:
the federal government;
Williamson County, Texas, where Hutto is located; and
Corrections Corporation of America, based in Nashville, which operates Hutto.
The decision about whether to detain children, or participate in their detention, is made by all three: Uncle Sam, Williamson County commissioners and their constituents, and CCA and its constituents.
Because of CCA's role, it is one of the targets of the anti-Hutto protests. Prior to Hutto, however, CCA was seen as friendly to Hispanics and Latin Americans, who make up the majority of those held at Hutto. The company...
Because of Hutto, however, LULAC is returning the CCA donations it has received.
Comments by Louise Grant of CCA
The Hispanic Nashville Notebook asked CCA how the company views the detention of children and families, or allegations of overincarceration - and whether the board or the company wrestles with the moral issues raised by opponents, or whether there is a limit to the kind of policies the company is willing to help implement. Here is the response of CCA VP of Marketing and Communications Louise Grant:
Our government customers don't ask us our opinions on the moral implications. ... They make public policy decisions. ... Once those decisions have been made, they decide "Is the public government sector going to manage these individuals, or is the private sector?" ... We are not in the business of making moral decisions on U.S. public policy. ... Where we can have an influence is in our own facilities.
When describing the moment when ICE approached CCA to turn Hutto into a family facility, Grant said that CCA initially turned the government down:
Grant: Specifically in regard to Hutto, I can say our customer - Immigration and Customs Enforcement, again, they have been our customer for 25 years, they trust us - they came to us and asked us to operate a family detention center. We said no initially.
Hispanic Nashville Notebook: Why was that?
Grant: We said we have not had that expertise before - you know, we've managed adults. We've had a few juvenile facilities, but we have not managed a family detention center. Obviously, there was only one at the time in the country, in Pennsylvania, and we said no. And ICE came back to us and said, we've made the public policy decision that we are going to do this, and we want to partner who we trust; you've been a good partner for 25 years; we know you have high standards, you have integrity and strong ethics, and we would like you to do this. And we knew it was going to be an evolutionary process, because it was new for ICE and it was new for us, but we said OK we will do this. And we knew that there would be scrutiny. There was obviously the concern about safety and security to say, how can we ensure the absolute safest, most humane environment for these individuals. And our staff, who already goes through very rigorous training, went through a great deal more specialized training, and all of our counselors. And it has been an evolutionary process.
I've been to that facility several times. The warden Evelyn Hernandez is a wonderful woman from Puerto Rico who has the greatest sensitivity, and her staff has the greatest sensitivity to the mothers and the children and the fathers. We do believe that keeping those children with their families is something we're proud of. Again, we've worked extremely hard not to get involved in the public policy decisions...
Hutto Timeline
July 2005 CCA issues press release announcing Hutto closure
December 2005 CCA announces agreement with ICE that will keep Hutto open
May 2006 Hutto re-opens as facility for families, including children; Tennessean reports that federal immigration policy of family detention helps company's bottom line
December 2006 Protest against housing children at Hutto BBCmundo.com covers Hutto controversy
April 2007 ICE describes good conditions at Hutto Federal judge rules that ACLU is "highly likely to prevail" in its litigation alleging that ICE has abused its discretion because conditions of child detention at Hutto are not in compliance with federal law Alibi.com interview with ACLU-TX legal director (H/T Aunt B)
June 2007 Houston Chronicle blog says Hutto will never be appropriate place for children Amnesty International urges DHS not to detain children in advance of World Refugee Day rally at Hutto
June 2008 World Refugee Day vigil at Hutto ("to protest the use of Hutto, a former prison, to detain migrants and asylum seekers, including families with children") Nashville Scene cover story on CCA and Hutto ("Locked and Loaded")
July 2008 Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman rules CCA is subject to TN open records law
August 2008 CCA launches "CCA360" PR site (with a section on children at Hutto) Matt Pulle at Nashville Scene blogs about CCA360; CCA VP of Marketing and Communications Louise Grant responds in comments and also publishes a reply post on CCA360
December 2008 Williamson County, TX votes 4-1 to renew Hutto contract Dissenting Commissioner Birkman: "It's still a prison" Commissioner Covey: "I haven't seen any of the things you [opponents] are talking about that endanger a child's life, because if there was, I'd be out of it"
March 2009 The Economist blogs Hutto and Least of These documentary (H/T T. Don Hutto blog) AP story on Least of These documentary Austinist interview with Least of These Directors/Producers ("We chose not to interview CCA officials because we chose to focus the film narrowly on the issue of family detention and not on the failings of CCA...")
June 2009 CCA donates to LULAC - which has had favorable opinions of CCA in the past - but LULAC is returning CCA donations now because of Hutto June 20 vigil at Hutto for World Refugee Day
People interested in seeing "The Least of These" can actually watch it for free on-line at SnagFilms. (It's also available for purchase as a home DVD or educational DVD.)
To watch the film for free: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_least_of_these
(John, you can host the full film on your website if you'd like to.)
Additional details on www.theleastofthese-film.com
Thanks to everyone who is bringing attention to the problems at Hutto -- the new administration is at least LISTENING this time around.
CCA makes moral decisions through its acceptance of contracts to imprison immigrant children who have committed no crimes -- and it did so in an oppressive prison environment until the ACLU filed suit against the feds, which led to vast improvements at Hutto.
CCA could always say "no" to imprisoning children and families at Hutto; yes, that would mean another company or the government would run the facility, but CCA would be taking a moral stand. The fact that they bid for and won the Hutto contract, and profit from it as a result, makes a statement, too -- and not a moral one.
Equally, during the 1940's, if the German government was contracting out concentration camps and didn't ask companies to make moral decisions -- only to take the contracts and enforce government public policy decisions -- CCA could have said the same thing.
Using Louise Grant's logic, it would have been perfectly acceptable for CCA to run Auschwitz. No moral judgments there, right?
At this morning's CEI meeting we decided to become a partner in a national effort called Reform Immigration for America. The mission of this national coalition is very similar to ours ... to educate the public on immigration issues and support comprehensive reform of our broken immigration system.
As you likely know already, President Obama is moving forward with addressing how to repair our immigration system through reform. To this end he is scheduled to begin conversations with Congress in the week ahead. Members organizations of this newly formed national coalition are simultaneously holding news conferences around the country on Monday to emphasize the need for reform and support the President's efforts. We decided this morning that we would do the same.
I know that this is short notice ... but am hoping that some of you will be able to join us on Monday at Loews. We have lined up several speakers who will give short addresses from different perspectives ... business, labor, religious, public policy, etc. The conference will be centered around CEI's statement of principles for reform that we collaboratively developed and adopted a couple of years ago and have honed since. We are hoping to have a large enough presence of members to demonstrate our commitment as well as have CEI members available to talk to guests and press who join us. Given the importance of this, whether or not you have been at a recent meeting of CEI, I am hoping you will give strong consideration to joining us on Monday. Hope to see you then.
CEI's principles for reform can be found on its web site:
CEI supports:
The development of opportunities to allow hard-working immigrants who are already contributing to this country to come out of the shadows, regularize their status after satisfying reasonable criteria, and over time, pursue and option to become lawful permanent residents, and eventually, United States citizens, if they choose to do so. Reforms in our family-based immigration system that honor humanitarian and American family values and significantly reduce waiting times for reuniting families in the United States, something that can take years, even decades under the current process. The development of legal avenues for new immigrant workers and their families who wish to migrate to the United States as well as the implementation of a safe, legal, and orderly process in which the rights of all workers are fully protected.
Effective border protection policies that are consistent with American humanitarian values and with the need to treat all individuals with respect. These policies will allow for critical and legitimate tasks of identifying and preventing entry into the United States by terrorists and dangerous criminals, implementing immigration policy, and maintaining the integrity of national borders.
The complete principles adopted by the Reform Immigration for America campaign are here.
The Tennessee Republican Party joins Mexican Americans today in celebrating their heritage on Cinco de Mayo.
“A key ingredient to our nation’s greatness is the contribution of the Mexican American community. Our shared values of family, freedom to pursue opportunity and observance of our faith are the cornerstones of Hispanic citizens and all ethnicities,” noted Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “Today, we reaffirm the commitment of our Republican Party to the policies that work to provide jobs, educational opportunity, access to health care, the ownership of private property and all others that emphasize personal achievement, not government interference or entitlement.”
Tennessee enjoys the leadership of the TN Republican National Hispanic Assembly that continues to grow and represent key issues. The organization’s beliefs are clearly stated at their website, www.tnrnha.org/i_am_a_republican.htm.
Raul Lopez, Chairman of the TN Republican National Hispanic Assembly, declared, “We have all come to the greatest country in the world for the opportunity to worship without government restriction; for our families to pursue happiness without government bondage and domination; and to express ourselves freely without fear. We can’t take these blessings for granted and must fight as our forefathers to keep our citizens free.
Juan Borges, Vice Chairman of the TNRNHA, encourages interested citizens to get involved at www.tnrnha.org.
May 1 is a day in which immigrants have mobilized themselves in the past few years, and 2009 is no exception, but Nashville seems to be taking a pass this year (see the lists here, here and here of May 1 events across the country, none of which is in Nashville).
The only thing I've seen from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition has been the following e-mail a few days ago, which includes instructions for getting May 1 updates from a national group:
* CALL: President Obama and thank him for moving immigration reform in 2009. o For English call: 866-584-3962. o Para Español: 866-583-2908. * FAX: Senator Reid and Senator Pelosi to tell them to stand strong with President Obama and pass immigration reform in 2009. JUST CLICK THIS LINK: http://www.AmericasVoiceOnline.org/Leadership * TEXT: Join the FIRM Mobile Action Network by texting Justice [Justicia for Spanish] to 69866 to get updates on May 1st actions and future action alerts to help us win immigration reform this year. [all standard text messaging fees apply]
As far as I can tell, the only campaign-level May 1 action item for Nashvillians would be to set up a screening of Made in L.A.:
Between April 15th and May 31st national organizations, grassroots groups, faith-based congregations and individuals across the country are coming together in a nationwide effort to share Emmy-winning Made in L.A. and put a human face on the issues of immigration, immigrant workers' rights, and supporting humane immigration reform. To learn more about the campaign, and see our short web-videos, visit our May Day Community Screening Campaign page!
Join the movement and start planning your own Made in L.A. event today!
Is there a Nashville May 1 event I'm missing? Does anyone know if there are any Made in L.A. screenings in the works for Nashville? Anyone want to put one together? Contact me here or comment below.
State Representative John Litz: "Every Hispanic that you see out here on the street is not an illegal alien. We’ve got to get past that."
75% of Hispanic Tennesseans are either U.S. citizens or legal immigrantsThe Kingsport Times-News reported here on a TV appearance of their state Representative John Litz, and his defense of local Hispanics*.
Representative Litz commented that "Every Hispanic that you see out here on the street is not an illegal alien. We’ve got to get past that. If we don’t, we’re breeding racism."
Litz is right. Roughly 75% of Hispanic Tennesseans are either U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. (About half of Tennessee's Hispanic population was born in the U.S., and among Hispanics in America who are foreign-born, about half have valid visas.)
The Times-News article points to a recent New York Timesfeature on the economy's impact on immigrant and non-immigrant workers in Hamblen County:
The faithful stand and hold their hands high, raising a crescendo of prayer for abundance and grace. In the evangelical church where they are gathered, the folding chairs are filled with immigrants from Latin America. ... The 1960 census did not record a single immigrant in Hamblen County, of which Morristown is the seat. By 2007, Hispanic immigrants and their families made up almost 10 percent of the county population of 61,829, having nearly doubled their numbers since 2000, census data show.
Read the article in its entirety, complete with graphs and an audio slideshow, here.
*Aunt B. questions the Times-News' use of the word "local" in a way that doesn't include Hamblen County's local Hispanic residents.
Local Hispanic Republican group schedules April 30 fundraiser, attracts politicians and Davidson County GOP promo
Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Tennessee event to feature 2010 gubernatorial candidate and current Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey
The Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Tennessee (TNRNHA) will hold a $100/ticket fundraiser April 30 at La Hacienda restaurant in Franklin. The scheduled topics are recruitment of Hispanics into the Republican Party, the Latino vote, and the 2010 elections.
TNRNHA's web site is primarily in English, but it is not in English only - see the bilingual I Am a Republican Because page. There is also a a link to the RNC's Spanish-language site.
Here is the April 30 event announcement on the Davidson County GOP web site:
You Are Cordially Invited to Attend A Special Private Event to Benefit the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of TN
Join Us and Special Guest Speaker Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey
Host Committee Owner of La Hacienda Salvador Guzman State Representative Glen Casada State Senator Jack Johnson Dr. David and Vicky Watts Owner of Ambrose Printing John Ambrose State Executive Committee Member Nathan R. James
As we discuss strategies to recruit Hispanics into the Republican Party and the importance of the Latino votes in TN
As we look to the Future for many Victories in 2010
Thursday, April 30, 2009 6:00pm La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant 509 Hillsboro Rd Franklin, TN. 37064 $100.00 per person/per couple
State Rep. Eric Watson may have said españols, but "yellow" tale is more interesting
There was a brouhaha yesterday about a recent comment by State Rep. Eric Watson, who supposedly used the word "Hispaniels" to describe Hispanics while expressing his opposition to a bill which would express regret to African-Americans for the wrongs of slavery. See posts and comments at the blogs: Pith in the Wind, Tiny Cat Pants, and Post Politics.
I think Rep. Watson said españols, that it wasn't a slur against Hispanics, and that it isn't even the most interesting part of this story.
An investigation
This little investigation got started when I called Rep. Watson's office for comment after I first heard about this. The word "Hispaniel" looked so odd that I had to get the Representative's side of the story before posting a reference to it on HispanicNashville.com, especially if there was any danger of Watson's appearing on the list of prominent Tennessee officials who have circulated negativity about Hispanics.
Watson's legislative assistant Marianne Purcell spoke with me first. She said that Rep. Watson recalled saying, "español," and that afterwards he (maybe rhetorically) had asked something like, "That's a word, isn't it?" (Commenter "nm" over at Tiny Cat Pants seemed to be the only one to guess this possibility on the blogs yesterday; I'll admit, I hadn't thought of it, either.)
I mentioned to Purcell that Rep. Watson appeared to have used the term - if it was "español" - as a noun to describe a group of people, and neither she nor I knew what to make of that. Since I mentioned that the blog posts and comments referenced above didn't have any link to any audio, Purcell proceeded to look up the video on the Legislature's web site while we were speaking (you can, too: go to Tennessee General Assembly Streaming Video > State & Local Government > April 7, 2009 > Video). Keep in mind that I'm not a constituent of Mr. Watson, and this was after 5pm, so as far as I was concerned, Purcell went way above and beyond to help me out by scrolling video for me over the phone in real time. She even kept a nice attitude about it. (Lesson to Republicans: if you want to give government a bad name, you're going to have to hide nice people like Marianne Purcell.)
So here we are, Purcell looking for the audio while we're on the phone and me trying to do the same. At one moment Purcell runs across the audio of Rep. Watson's referring to different races and then mentioning "Mexicans" apparently as an example of one of the races. I could hear it on her speakers, and we both remarked that it was clearly "Mexicans" and not "Hispaniels," so we assumed there was another portion of his comments we were looking for with the "Hispaniels"-sounding remark. Apparently Rep. Watson either came in the office or was in the office already when the "Mexicans" part of the audio came on, because Purcell said she rolled her eyes at (or did something else similarly and mildly admonishing to Watson, I forget exactly what) when "Mexicans" came across the speakers. I thought it was at least a good sign that Watson's legislative assistant recognized the impropriety of using the term "Mexicans" as a general descriptor, especially when referring either to race or to multiple possible countries. (I told her she might enjoy the beer commercial from a few posts back here on HispanicNashville.com, about the guy at the bar who meets four women who say they're from different countries in South America, after which the man asks the bartender for drinks for "my four Mexican friends.")
Then Purcell handed the phone to Watson, to my surprise. I told him that he and I both grew up Baptist and were born in 1973 - he said he liked that - and then he basically repeated what Purcell had told me, that he had said "español" and not "Hispaniel." Unfortunately, without the audio yet of what he actually said, I wasn't able to ask any useful questions. In any case, I thought it courteous of the Representative to take the time to speak with me, and he left the door open for follow-up if needed.
Then Purcell was back on the line, and she said she'd keep looking for the supposed "Hispaniel" comment and send me a link to it. A few minutes later, she referred me to the 18:46 mark of the video on the Legislature's site.
With the video in hand, and giving Watson the benefit of the doubt on "español," I come up with a transcript that looks like this:
Rep. Watson: "You know, we need to move on and put this stuff behind us. Both sides - Caucasian, Españols, African-American - are all guilty of this back in the 1800's. You've read it and so have I. Even the yellow man, if you look back in the 1820's in Sumterville..."
Rep. Watson: "...even here close by, the yellow man, which is the white man, was [?] slavery too. I understand what you're doing, I just don't want you to be accused of [?] profiling or going towards a certain group of people on this bill. But I could support this bill if you could include all the slavery, not just one race, because there was more than just the African-American that was [en]slaved, back in the 1800's, if you do your - you know, look into the history. Would you entertain that?
Rep. Gilmore (bill sponsor): Well, let me just -
Rep. Watson: The Spanish people, I'm talking about Chine- even Chinese.
And here's the comment about the Mexicans:
Rep. Watson: So you would not agree with putting all races that was involved, correct? You don't want to do your resolution including everybody that's been involved in slavery, no matter what their race is.
Rep. Gilmore: Explain a little bit more about what you mean by that, Representative Watson.
Rep. Watson: Well, what I mean is-
Rep. Gilmore: Because I know that Indians-
Rep. Watson: Yeah-
Rep. Gilmore: -by [?] large, have, okay, but the others were in such small numbers, I'm not sure if I understand what we're saying here.
Rep. Watson: What I'm saying is let's do a House [?] Resolution for everybody - I mean everybody, even for the Indians, the Mexicans that has been involved in slavery, for everybody, let's do this for everybody not for just a certain group of people. I know you don't want us to be accused of profiling, and I don't either. But let's do this for everybody and be fair across the board all I'm saying.
Rep. Gilmore: I'd like to try to pass it as it is, Representative Watson.
Rep. Watson: Okay.
Rep. Gilmore: Again, I [?] want to minimize slavery for anyone, because enslaving anybody is wrong.
Rep. Watson: Yes, it is.
Rep. Gilmore: The numbers of other races I think sometime were small in comparison.
Rep. Watson: Okay.
The exchange ended in Rep. Gilmore saying to Rep. Watson, "I appreciate you."
Did anyone catch that Rep. Gilmore responded in the affirmative to the "yellow man" reference? I want to get back to that below; it turns out this detail (missing from the Scene's transcription) is a crucial clue.
Back to españols as a noun, I couldn't find too many references to the word or that usage online, but this Filipino blog post from 2008 uses the word españols in exactly the same context as Watson, describing those who were guilty of slavery:
It was the same scenario when this español took their boats to the Americans and let their swords glitter in the face of the Aztecs. Correct me if I’m wrong. What I am writing is based on stock knowledge alone. When the Spanish conquistadors set their foot on the South America, we all knew that the Aztec culture was doomed. The continual conquest for gun, God and glory ‘gave’ the españols license to almost wipe out an entire civilization. And you must say, they did succeed — nearly killing the whole population and turning the remainder to slaves.
(I'll leave it to the rest of you to snark about the continual contest for gun, God and glory in modern politics.)
The Scene, by the way, not looking for the term españols, found the term "hispaniels" used negatively in a random blog post from 2006, but it's not used in the slavery context. As between the neutral and historical usage of the Filipino post and the negative usage cited by the Scene, the neutral and historical usage is the closest.
It would seem that Watson is calling the oppressors the españols and calling the oppressed "Mexicans." That could be harmless.
To the extent that Watson mentions race in his remarks, it might be worth it for him to note later that the concept of race would include neither the españols, Mexicans, or even Hispanics for that matter. As has been discussed on Kleinheider's blog and Tiny Cat Pants multiple times over the years, Hispanic is not a race - it is an ethnicity.
Yellow man
Let's get back to the yellow man. Rep. Gilmore indicated that she knew what Rep. Watson was talking about when he referred to the "yellow man." What could this be, that she knows what he's talking about? Is it common Tennessee knowledge? Is it a story that was shared in the halls of Legislative Plaza last week? The latter seems more likely.
I searched for "yellow man" and Sumterville (Sumterville is the missing detail from the Scene transcript), and the results show that the "yellow man" reference is part of the story of William Ellison, a former slave who became a slaveowner, described in the book Black Masters as "a man of mixed white and black ancestry."
(An aside: So is Rep. Watson citing an example of a mixed-race slaveowner to discredit a bill that honors African-Americans by expressing regret for their enslavement? That would be interesting, because Watson also quoted our mixed-race president multiple times for the proposition that apologies for slavery are inappropriate (hence Rep. Gilmore's preference for the concept of regret and not apology)).
Where things get interesting is if you look for the "yellow man" reference outside the context of the Black Masters book. The term "yellow man" in regard to slavery appears most commonly on the Internet in an article attributed to Robert M. Grooms from the October 1995 edition of The Barnes Review, which Wikipedia says is "dedicated to historical revisionism such as Holocaust denial." The Grooms article ("Dixie's Censored Subject: Black Slaveowners") has been making the rounds in theoretically harmless places like web sites for gun owners, Corvette owners, terrorism/security subjects, and Civil War history, but it's also been showing up in some scary places, as well - including one with the words "jew" and "white" showing up numerous times.
Oh, yeah, and freerepublic.com, too (BlueDogCatcher, you saw this coming).
Which is not to say that by association Rep. Watson is necessarily a gun or Corvette owner, terrorism/security news fan, Civil War buff, or freeper or much, much, worse. But odds are that those folks are where Watson got the argument he used last week to oppose the anti-slavery resolution.
Conclusion
The bad taste in my mouth is not so much from the español comment, which after all isn't the greatest evidence in the world for an argument that Rep. Watson employed a slur against Hispanics. "Yellow man," also, isn't convincing as a slur, either, given the Grooms story.
It's just that the sentiment in the places where the "yellow man" reference appears on the Internet is so dark - and, despite that negativity, a reference to the "yellow man" still makes it into committee remarks by one of our State legislators. That, and the dubious refusal of the majority to acknowledge the oppression of a certain minority - on the grounds of fairness, no less.
Laura Blackwell Clark to lawmakers: don't withhold college
HB0808 would close universities' doors to Tennessee students
Students without visas flourish with the responsibilities they can control
Hearing tomorrow in Higher Education SubcommitteeTimesNews.net (h/t Post Politics) reports that MTSU professor Laura Blackwell Clark has told state lawmakers that a bill to withhold college from good but unvisaed students is bad for the community at large:
"We allow (non-citizen) people to go to public institutions if they pay out-of-state tuition," Laura Blackwell Clark, assistant professor of Educational Leadership at Middle Tennessee State University, told the subcommittee. "This bill is seeking to close the door to the opportunity for a person who is undocumented to attend a public institution of higher learning. … I’m asking you to think about this and to not support this bill. My belief is when we block educational access to any of the residents, any citizens, any non-citizens, any people who are part of our American community, we do our community a disservice in the long term."
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights position on the bill is here. The bill, HB0808, will be on the calendar of the House Higher Education Subcommittee on Tuesday.
Students without visas flourish with the responsibilities they can control
Tennessee's visaless high schoolers are still achieving success, despite the barriers set up against employment after graduation (see this story). As I've said before, any proposal to blockade high performers from college altogether echoes of the doomsday clock and the misery strategy. Even if one fully considers both concepts and embraces them as "sticks" to use against parents, supporting HB0808 and opposing legal status for good students requires being comfortable offering no "carrot" to the kids for their good behavior here.
Students who have gone on to college without visas - a population that exists in many places including Tennessee, at least currently - are interviewed in the video below. We have the choice of designing a system that moves them backward in society (the misery strategy) or one that recognizes that through their success they should earn something better than a dead end:
Click here to act
If you would like to take action on this issue, try one of the following:
Contact your state legislator to ask them to oppose (or thank them for opposing) HB0808, which would close the door of Tennessee's universities even for visaless students who would pay out-of-state tuition on their own dime.
Liquor laws, immigrant infighting, and favoring German newcomers
"There could hardly be two less controversial issues within the German community than the Sunday drinking law and increased immigration"
"By 'foreigners,' Brownlow meant Greeks and Arabs and the like. He never said anything against the Germans. They are his best friends."
Drivers license written exam bill up tonight in SenateFights about laws governing alcohol have a long history. Today, the fight is about wine sales in supermarkets. Back in the day, laws restricted drinking on Sunday, and Tennessee's German immigrant community aimed to set aside its differences to lobby for more liberal drinking laws:
German Radicals and German Conservatives had been so hostile towards one another that they had been unwilling to even temporarily lay aside their personal differences to work toward a common goal. ... Although the Staatszeitung actively supported the Republican party, [Publisher John] Ruhm still felt it was necessary for the Germans to band together to lobby for legislation that directly affected them as an ethnic minority. Ruhm believed that the proper vehicle had finally arrived with the establishment of the new German Association. As far as he was concerned, there could hardly be two less controversial issues within the German community than the Sunday drinking law and increased immigration.
Speaking of German, the Tennessee Senate is scheduled to hear a measure today that would limit the number of languages in which the state's written drivers license exam is given (h/t: Post Politics). Interestingly, at the same time as the bill would prohibit the Department of Safety from adding new languages beyond the currently used Japanese, Korean and Spanish, an amendment passed that explicitly expanded the list to include German.
This favoritism toward German is easily explained - Germany's Volkswagen just announced a major investment in a new manufacturing facility in Chattanooga. It also recalls a different differentiation among immigrants that the Tennessee Staatszeitung seemed to deem acceptable in the 19th century, referring to then-governor Brownlow:
I heard a Conservative German yesterday sharply criticize Brownlow's Knownothing past. A bystander asked, what have the Germans always got against Brownlow? Did he ever insult the Germans like Etheridge who once spoke of "a pack of dirty dutchmen," and on another occasion spoke of "d-----d dutch intruders"? No, Brownlow has never criticized the Germans. True, he has reviled foreigners, he has expressed the opinion that it would be better if they were to drown on the other side of the Atlantic, and so on. But by foreigners, Brownlow meant Greeks and Arabs and the like. He never said anything against the Germans. They are his best friends.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition has talking points on the Senate's drivers license bill and other proposals affecting immigrants here.
This story is the fourth in a series about the history of the Tennessee Staatszeitung newspaper and German history here (click the following links for the first, second, and third installments in the series).
Ground-breaking "Appalachian Ellis Island" legislation introduced in TN House of Representatives
Country music legend and junior Representative team up to reframe immigrant laws
Today is New American Day on the HillCountry music legend William Walker and House Rep. James LaFleur have joined up to co-author legislation that is somewhat atypical of the way state lawmakers have approached immigrants and their immigration status in recent years. Walker's and LaFleur's request to extend the legislative filing deadline is on the agenda of the Rules and Sense committee at 10:00 a.m. today, which meets in Legislative Plaza Room 19-74.
The legislative package, dubbed "The Appalachian Ellis Island" by its growing number of supporters, features the following proposals:
A specialty license plate for the "Appalachian Ellis Island" slogan. The image will be designed by contest. The additional $70 fee will be waived because Walker is assigning the profits from his "Gone Back on Your Raisin" tour to the Department of Transportation.
In-state tuition for every resident of Tennessee, period. "I have more horse sense than book sense," said Walker, "but it seems to me when the National Merit Scholar who's lived next door to me for ten years and the Valedictorian across the street from Rep. La Fleur who's lived there for seven years come knocking on MTSU's and UT's doorsteps, respectively, there's no other appropriate response than, "Ain't that the berries!"
Drivers' licenses regardless of legal status. LaFleur said that any legislator opposing this proposal should be forced to put this bumper sticker on his or her car: "I was the one who took away the car insurance from that uninsured driver who hit you." LaFleur said he is also troubled by the fact that law enforcement is sometimes unable to identify people because of the unavailability of identification.
A one-year statute of limitations for any state or local treatment or processing of a person due to federal immigration status. Walker said, "I've done a lot of bad things in my life, but as long as I'm not a murderer, the government can't chase me forever. Why should working without a visa on the Nashville Symphony's building be punishable for a coon's age when the folks who pirate their CDs and download their world-famous music for free are off the hook before the ink has dried on the hard drive?" In a rare moment of disagreement with Walker, LaFleur said, "He**, are we asking the metermaids to enforce tax laws now? Why are we even talking about this? Make the statute of limitations 1 day and then at least you'll be chronologically closer to understanding the supremacy clause."
Increased funding for state employment law enforcement. "This is a no-brainer," says LaFleur. "If you go after everyone who's taking shortcuts with employees, you'll be busy as a stump-tailed cow in fly time, but at least you'll be shaping up the employers for the benefit of every employee in Tennessee." Walker added, "I could have used this when I was waiting tables before I signed with the label - and probably after, too."
A moratorium on local government proposals targeting immigrants as a class. LaFleur explained the proposal, telling the Hispanic Nashville Notebook, "We say we're accepting of legal immigrants, but the number of pro-immigrant laws and resolutions out there are as scarce as hen's teeth."
Adjusting state funds downward for any locality that uses 287(g) to go beyond dangerous criminals. LaFleur said, "If you have such an abundance of resources that you can process and house people for piddly stuff, let's have another look at how much of the state's money heads your way."
A multilingual resolution to be translated into every language currently spoken in Tennessee, as determined by the U.S. census. The resolution would read, "You're welcome here. When you saw the 'welcome' sign on the highway or at the airport, we meant it, and we'll tell you in your own language, too." The Tennessee Historical Awareness Society will create a web site and brochures containing the resolution, to be illustrated with historic images from the immigrant communities in Tennessee's past and the printed communications they had in other languages besides English.
Required time sitting in the dunking booth at Oktoberfest, Celebration of Cultures, or the Australian Festival for anyone who votes against the above measures.
If you've read this far, Happy April Fool's Day.
The real news is that today is New American Day on the Hill, a lobbying effort of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).
TIRRC details the current Tennessee legislative session's negative immigrant-related proposals here. TIRRC supports these positive bills.
All indicted MS-13 gang members are convicted, sentenced
Group gone from Nashville, maybe not the suburbs?
The Tennessean reports here that all 14 defendants in a RICO criminal prosecution against local members of the MS-13 gang have been convicted and sentenced after entering guilty pleas. The racketeering (RICO) convictions bring longer criminal sentences than the individual acts of violence, which included "murder, attempted murder, and witness tampering." The original indictments were brought in 2007 (story here).
These 14 people constituted only "one percent of one percent of the Latino community in Nashville," according to a statement made by Jim Cavanaugh of the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to the Nashville City Paper (story here).
It had been hoped that these efforts eliminated MS-13's presence in Nashville. At the time of the indictments, Sgt. Gary Kemper of the Metro Police Gang unit told the City Paper that the arrestees constituted most of the local membership of the mostly Salvadoran gang. Kemper told the City Paper, "As far as the crime within the Hispanic gangs, it’s cut down, I’d say, 80 to 90 percent" (story here). And this 2008 press release from Metro Police stated that "[t]hanks largely to the efforts to the Gang Unit, this investigation and federal prosecution may have eradicated the presence of an MS-13 cell in the Middle Tennessee district."
But this story from a week ago reported that MS-13 and Brown Pride are active in Nashville suburb LaVergne. There is no mention of how many people are involved there.
Credit for the Nashville convictions was shared by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmie Lynn Ramsaur and the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Middle District of Tennessee; Trial Attorney John Han and the Criminal Division's Gang Unit; the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department's Gang Suppression Unit; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the Davidson County District Attorney General's Office.
Spanish-language paperbacks and magazines needed for incarcerated immigrants
New library privileges in Davidson County jails
Vanderbilt University graduate student Amada Armenta is collecting Spanish-language paperbacks and magazines for immigrant inmates in Davidson County jails:
As we all know, there are hundreds of immigrants who are currently incarcerated and awaiting removal in Davidson County jails. Up until several months ago, immigrants in custody did not have library privileges. Now they do, but the collection of available books in Spanish is tiny. I am working to change that by collecting Spanish language paperbacks and magazines to donate to the jail.
You can help! If you have any Spanish language paperbacks or magazines that you would like to donate, please let me know. I will come and pick them up.
Armenta can be contacted via e-mail at amada.armentavanderbilt.edu
"Oh, I know. He did it to himself, by breaking the law. I know that. But this approach of public humiliation of people for this kind of crime — while the much more serious and more violent real criminals I just mentioned are given anything close to comparable treatment — is just flat out wrong."
"The practice of public shame as punishment for legal violation that is not significantly criminally sanctioned is puritanical and disgusting."
"This is a violation of personal privacy for something that arguably shouldn’t even be a crime..."
Unfortunately, this incident has the potential to overshadow a lifetime of contributions to civility and robust discourse in politics. I would urge all of us to remember Teddy’s legacy as the details of this situation unfold.
I wish him well. He has done important work. It is always good to try to see the whole person.
The day before the story above broke, HispanicNashville.com ran (this story) on the proper role of law enforcement discretion in Nashville and the need for the punishment to be tailored to the severity of the offense.
Metro Police should be commended for this reminder on their arrest web site:
These individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
That could be one reason (among others) to refrain from using the word "illegal" as a noun when identifying this particular person.
Sheriff said in 2007 he wouldn't detain non-threatening immigrants in 287(g); immigrant advocates said "put it in writing"; new GAO report is déjà vu
ICE says Nashville implements 287(g) in a manner "contrary to the objective of the program"
Sheriff originally agreed that only threats to the public would be detained and deported
Reality: misdemeanors were a whopping 80% of deportations
After conducting a performance audit from September 2007 to January 2009, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report about the so-called 287(g) program, which establishes local-federal partnerships for immigration law enforcement. This report relates to Nashville in that we are a participant in 287(g), and the report calls into question the fact that 287(g) is used to process minor crimes, which is what happens in Nashville and not in the great majority of jurisdictions reviewed for the report. The most recent statistic for Nashville is that 80% of people processed for deportation under our 287(g) program were originally arrested for mere misdemeanors (story here).
According to today's Tennessean, Sheriff Daron Hall says he wasn't told that the program should be limited to more serious crimes:
When the law was written, surely it didn't say you can only process violent criminal offenders once they're convicted," said Sheriff Daron Hall, who initiated the 287g program locally in April 2007. "If that's part of their mission, it surely isn't something that's articulated."
Hall's right that the narrow focus of 287(g) wasn't on paper, but his quote above doesn't reflect his past statements in which he acknowledged and even agreed with the focus on serious criminals.
Two years ago, Hall told the Nashville City Paperhere that his office would not detain people under 287(g) unless they posed a threat to the public:
In an interview Wednesday, Hall said he understands exactly what the program's purpose is. "The purpose of this is not to automatically deport people. It's to avoid ignoring them," Hall said. And Hall said he agrees with the group that his officers should not be detaining suspected illegal immigrants who pose no threat to the public.
The "group" referred to in the quote above is the advisory group Hall set up in regard to 287(g). At the time, this group raised the concern that what Hall said about using public threat level as a detention criteria should have been included in the document proscribing his 287(g) authority:
[T]hat concession [Hall's statement about not detaining suspected illegal immigrants if they pose no threat to the public] may still not be good enough for many area immigration rights activists who believe thousands of illegal immigrants will either be deported or required to prove their legal status just for minor infractions such as driving without a license.
"The way forward has to be that they say we're going after people with criminal records," [Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition Director David] Lubell said. "If someone comes into the jail with a criminal record, fine, those are the people we should be dealing with, not people who have no other record and are simply in for traffic violations."
Lubell suggested including in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - the document written by the Sheriff's Office and DHS that governs local implementation of the program - a written policy spelling out that traffic violators would not be targeted. "That would start the conversation," Lubell said.
The gap in documentation that Lubell and other advocates called attention to at the time is the same gap that the GAO identifies as a problem in this year's report:
According to ICE senior program officials, the main objective of the 287(g) program is to enhance the safety and security of communities by addressing serious criminal activity such as violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity, sexual-related offenses, narcotics smuggling and money laundering committed by removable aliens.
However, program-related documents, including the MOAs and program case files for the initial 29 participating agencies, the 287(g) brochure, training materials provided to state and local officers, and a “frequently asked questions” document do not identify this as the objective...
Out of 29 agencies reviewed by the GAO, Nashville is one of only 4 that is acting outside ICE's intent for the program by detaining and deporting for minor offenses:
[O]f 29 program participants reviewed by GAO, 4 used 287(g) authority to process individuals for minor crimes, such as speeding, contrary to the objective of the program.
So is this disconnect between ICE's vision of 287(g) and Nashville's implementation of it Sheriff Hall's problem or ICE's? Hall seemed to imply on the front end that he would follow the letter of 287(g) - he told the Hispanic Nashville Notebook in January 2007 that "ICE regulations will determine how it is implemented" and that "if you are illegal and committing crimes, and arrested by the police department, you will be processed through this program and could face deportation" (interview here). The government is now saying that ICE should have controlled the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) better - that is the finding of the GAO - but could Hall have influenced what went into the MOU? This story doesn't have that answer.
But what is clear is that Hall is running one of only four 287(g) programs - out of 29 reviewed - that chooses to throw a wide net, as opposed to focusing on dangerous criminals. Whether Hall wants to be acknowledge now that he knew ICE's intentions for the program at the time it was first put into place here, it appears to be his call now as to whether he is going to implement the program in the way that ICE intends. ICE certainly isn't forcing him to throw the wide net.
If ICE rewrites the MOU, however, Hall would be forced to target dangerous criminals. Maybe we citizens can ask our government to get started on this GAO recommendation and tighten up the MOU.
For the various instances in which this concern has been raised before in the Hispanic Nashville Notebook, you can consult these stories:
There is an opportunity here for our sheriffs, mayors, senators, presidential candidates and voters to recognize the difference between workers and real criminals and support enforcement measures which put the violent criminals at the front of the line. (October 2008)
The controversies are usually over the bear traps carelessly set for not only dangerous criminals but also for ordinary unvisaed workers and sometimes even legal immigrants and citizens. (October 2008)
[M]ost Hispanic and immigrant advocates believe that dangerous criminals should be the focus of immigration enforcement efforts, and not ordinary immigrants without visas, the vast majority of whom are in violation of a law only due to their having a job and not by causing public safety problems. (June 2008)
Davidson County public defender Ivan Lopez was quoted in this front-page article in the Tennessean on Sunday as saying that a Nashville-ICE partnership program called 287(g) "was sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the street" but that "[i]n reality, what's happening is you are breaking up families." (April 2008)
Catalina Nieto, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said that she commends any program that removes dangerous criminals from the streets but that the screening program is a "clumsy tool" to do that. (March 2008)
HNN: Is the primary purpose of 287(g) to enhance your ability to protect the population from dangerous criminals who also happen to have no valid immigration status, or is it something else? How does your office attempt to accomplish this now in the absence of 287(g)? Has there been any success on this front without 287(g)? Sheriff Daron Hall: "The ultimate goal is to increase public safety by detaining and removing those who pose a risk to the Nashville community." (January 2007)
We need to be prudent and conscientious when drafting the Memorandum of Understanding. (January 2007)
I believe you would be hard pressed to find a single immigrant or immigrant advocate that doesn’t believe in incarcerating or deporting criminals. The people living along Nolensville Road want the same things for their community that those living along West End Avenue want. (January 2007)
One concern about the program is that it will not distinguish between dangerous criminals and ordinary people. For example, Tennessee has stripped driving privileges (and motor vehicle insurance) from many noncriminal legal and illegal immigrants, which makes it more likely that they will be processed by law enforcement for driving without a license, even though they have not committed any violent crimes. In one recent instance, even without 287(g) in place, a local mother named Claudia Nunez was scheduled for deportation when she showed up to traffic court. (January 2007)
Federal officials disagree with the way Nashville is treating people like Ms. Nunez. "Temple Black, spokesman for ICE [formerly known as INS] in the Southeast, seems puzzled that Metro law enforcement would expend resources on busting undocumented workers who aren’t dangerous criminals. 'What we are focused on is aggravated felons…. We don’t go down to the Shell Station and pick up [undocumented workers].'” By seizing Ms. Nunez and people like her, Nashville implements a policy that stands in contrast to ICE's view that resources should be prioritized in a manner to best address the greatest threats to the community. (October 2006)
Anti-corruption message is one part of award-winning bilingual police outreach to Spanish-speaking residents
Chief Ronal Serpas: "Our police department views the El Protector Program as a critical service"
On February 27, NewsChannel5 reported here that the Metro Nashville Police Department has won national recognition for its El Protector program, which engages the Hispanic/Latino community with communications in both English and Spanish. The Vera Institute of Justice recently recognized the Nashville program in this report of "best practices" by law enforcement officers addressing language-related challenges.
On the same day of that local story, NewsChannel5 also reported here that Vanderbilt students are canceling spring break trips to Monterrey, Mexico due to violence there. A Reuters report describing the Monterrey incidents mentioned by the Vanderbilt students is here. The report says that "[a]bout 300 protesters carried signs complaining about army operations in the northern city of Monterrey," and indicates that the protests were funded by drug cartels. It further says that "the army is disrupting drug gang operations, but is failing to cleanse Mexico's corrupt police forces that are working for the cartels."
The corruption of police in some Latin American countries is one reason for Nashville's El Protector program, according to one of the local officers interviewed by NewsChannel5. In the video accompanying the story, Officer Gilbert Ramirez said that one of the goals of the program is to communicate to natives of Spanish-speaking countries who are living in Nashville that they can trust the police here. The program's ability to effectively communicate by bridging language barriers is part of the reason it won recognition by the Vera Institute.
“Our police department views the El Protector Program as a critical service that reaches out to a segment of our community who may not be familiar with American, and particularly Nashville, law enforcement practices,” Chief Ronal Serpas said in a press release. “I am grateful that the Vera Institute of Justice believes that our program is one that can be considered for replication by other law enforcement agencies in the United States.”
Officer Rafael Fernandez and Officer Gilbert Ramirez are the current face of El Protector. Both appear on the program's bilingual home page on the MNPD web site.
The Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats are excited to invite you to their first meeting in 2009!
Please join us this coming Thursday February 26, 2009 at 12:00pm at the TNDP Headquarters (Freedom Room) to our first meeting of 2009. This reunion is very special as we will get together to celebrate the 2008 elections and our accomplishments with English-Only.
The Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats will also be electing new officers and discussing new projects for this exciting year.
Using immigration to stimulate Tennessee economy has precedent in Reconstruction
Tennessee Governor Brownlow created state-level commission in 1869 and published handbook to attract immigrants in 1870
"Workers were sorely needed to rebuild the state, and outside capital was necessary to stimulate a sluggish economy."
Greg Siskind: "Immigration as stimulus"A lot of people have been calling for a leveraging of immigration policy to address the current economic crisis, including the following:
Memphis' Greg Siskind ("Immigration As Stimulus - 10 Ideas for Using Migration Policy to Jump Start the Economy and Create Jobs");
Although the crises created by the Civil War and the one we find ourselves in at the start of the 21st century are worlds apart, there is Reconstruction-era precedent for attracting immigrants to the State of Tennessee in a time of economic crisis. Tennessee Governor William Brownlow created a state-level Immigration Commission for this purpose in 1868, which in turn published The Tennessee Handbook and Immigrant's Guide in 1869. Robert Donald Rogers, in his M.A. thesis The Tennessee Staatszeitung, writes that Governor Brownlow's personal view of immigrants was quite negative, but the practical reality was that "[w]orkers were sorely needed to rebuild the state, and outside capital was necessary to stimulate a sluggish economy."
Despite the suggestions of Tennesseans Greg Siskind and Martin Kennedy, the prospect of using immigration as stimulus does not appear to be incorporated into any of the state-level proposals on immigration that are described in today's article in the Tennessean.
Public Policy Forum: The Impact of Immigration in Tennessee
NAHCC to speak about the positive impact of our immigrant population and the importance of federal government to assert its role and preempt state and local immigration enforcement initiatives. The Research & Education Accountability for TN Comptroller's Office to present report about the benefits of immigrant populations in Tennessee
The Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Department of Education & The University of Memphis
Present
Public Policy Forum
The Impact of Immigration:
How will Tennessee Address the Challenge
War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville, TN Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Luncheon 11 am Panel Discussion 11:30 - 12:30 pm
Moderated by
Jacqueline Laínez,
Clinical Programs DirectorCecil C. Humphreys School of Law
Panel Participants:
Michael Hough ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Council
Barry Frager - The Frager Law Firm, P.C. Daron HallDavidson County Sheriff
Susan Mattson - Research & Education Accountability, TN Comptroller's Office
Yuri Cunza - Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Fundraiser tonight to fight human trafficking in Nashville
Sheyla Paz Hicks (of Paz Communications Inc. and SPANISH-TV) alerted me to this fundraiser to help stop human trafficking in Nashville. The event is 7-11pm tonight at the Tin Roof and features five artists - The Harters, The Lowry Sisters, Telephant, Jessica Brandhorst, and Sleep Til May. Cover is $5; suggested donation is $10. Proceeds will benefit Free for Life Ministries.
The Nashville City Paper reported here in July 2007 that there were "multiple brothels in Nashville with prostitutes that are exclusively foreign nationals of Latin American countries" that were at the time "the target of a statewide FBI investigation into possible sex slavery at the hands of an indicted Mexican national," and that more instances of trafficking were suspected but had not yet been uncovered. At the same time and in the same article, it was announced that Nashville was getting assistance from the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services to form a “Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking” coalition, "to arm local agencies with the tools necessary to help identify trafficking and slavery victims." That coalition can be found at nashvillerescueandrestore.org
If you live in Davidson County, please consider voting today (Thursday) in the English Only special election. I would ask that you vote against ratification of both proposed amendments to the Nashville charter. Every vote will count in this election, so please take a second now to imagine yourself voting sometime between now and 7pm, and then make it a reality before then. Check your voting location here.
My personal story of opposition to these amendments is of course heavily influenced by my sweet wife Damariz. We were married right before I started my second year in law school. That following summer, when Damariz had been in the U.S. for less than a year, she was taking English classes at the International English Institute on Music Row. Damariz is a determined student, and she often stayed up late at night in our studio apartment near Vanderbilt doing homework. At the time, she was not yet fluent in English or able to do any complicated reading comprehension. Also at this same time, I was teaching her how to drive, since public transportation is so good in Chile, and she had never needed to learn. She learned how to drive in much less time than it was taking her to learn English (fancy that), so you can imagine how much it meant to me to find out that the State of Tennessee offered study materials and the written drivers license exam in Spanish. Tennessee didn't have to provide any language assistance to her at all, and all of the rest of the test was still administered in English, but how wonderful that the written materials were made as accessible as they were! To this day, I remember the genuine pride I felt as a Tennessean knowing that the Volunteer State had volunteered to be this hospitable to her, and that she would no longer be relegated to sitting at home by herself while I was at school or the law firm.
The city of Nashville has a litany of communications and services like the written drivers license exam that are offered in other languages. Sometimes the additional languages are added for the city's own benefit and not necessarily the sole benefit of the person on the receiving end of the communication. Language-related expenses, if not already tied to federal funds, are justified every year in the Metro budget by every program and department that uses additional languages beyond English. In my opinion, it is in our nature as Nashvillians to reach out when reaching out makes practical and hospitable sense. The unnecessary change of English Only, however, would be to remove the common sense from these decisions and burn into our city constitution a default rule against this kind of reaching out, with variances only at the gavel of the Metro Council or as required by federal or state law (also known as the Metro Legal Full Employment Act).
I encourage you to read the two proposed amendments at http://www.nashvilleforallofus.org and take a look here at the flurry of city-wide support of the status quo (all I want is the status quo - let city government use additional languages when appropriate.) If you look at the wording of the English Only amendment, you may agree with me that its change to the status quo is not only contrary to the hometown spirit I was proud of when Damariz and I were still getting her adjusted to life in Nashville, but it is so poorly worded that even the Nashville City Paper opposes it based on sloppiness alone (see here). As for the second amendment, it makes it easier to get sloppy charter amendments on the ballot.
If you don't live in Davidson County, please consider forwarding this to your friends who do. If you are unsure about this vote, or if you disagree with me, please send me an e-mail, as I believe there are a lot of people in town who at first glance supported the concept of English Only but have come to oppose it after further reflection (see here and here).
But if you live in Davidson County and haven't voted yet, please participate in this important event today in the life of our city. After we celebrated a dream on Monday and inaugurated a president on Tuesday, today is Nashville's moment on the main stage, and I have hope that we will be true to ourselves and get it right - one vote at a time.
Election Day January 22From now until January 22, the Hispanic Nashville Notebook will feature the Nashville for All of Us logo above, urging its Davidson County readers to vote AGAINST RATIFICATION of the constitutional amendment imposing English Only. It is reckless, rude, and red tape. It is frivolous legislation.
Beck calls "the 40 years before 1965" the "golden age" of immigration
A friend of mine with Korean ancestry asked me about a speech by immigration restrictionist Roy Beck of NumbersUSA. In it, Beck promotes the seemingly objective proposition that there are too many immigrants being allowed into the U.S. My friend asked me what the response is to Beck.
I watched a video of Beck delivering his short presentation (gumballs have earned it a sticky notoriety), and one specific comment Beck makes before the 1-minute mark stood out: he calls "the 40 years before 1965" the "golden age" of immigration. When I heard that, the graphic above immediately came to mind.
By "golden age," does Beck mean that the four decades of 1925-1965 had the right numbers of immigrants, or does he mean that those decades saw "normal" levels? The answer for Beck is, both. Even though many other decades of American immigration history saw much greater numbers than were seen from 1925-1965, Beck nonetheless describes the number of immigrants during that period as a "traditional level." You can judge for yourself which decades of American immigration have been more or less typical; I doubt you will choose 1925-1965.
Even more sobering is the moral baseline Beck establishes by framing that period of time of our immigration history as "golden."
This so-called "golden age" not only coincides with the Great Depression and its aftermath, but it begins immediately after the passage of the 1924 Asian Exclusion Act, which ushered in race-based immigration quotas and (as the name suggests) largely excluded Asians - necessarily meaning that most Asians who immigrated during that time period were illegal immigrants. The timeframe of this "golden age" concludes upon the passage of the civil rights-inspired Immigration Act of 1965, the purpose of which was to dismantle race-based immigration quotas.
A response to Beck?
His own words should suffice.
"You have to have some kind of benchmark." -Roy Beck
Edited January 8, 2009 to add this comment from Memphis attorney Greg Siskind:
There has only been one period of a closed door in this country and 1925 to 1965. That is hardly typical.
It was that restrictive policy that was behind the US turning away hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants in the Holocaust. Is there any more shameful period in American immigration history than the 1939 pictures of the SS St. Louis off the coast of Miami filled with 900 Jewish passengers? They were ultimately denied entry and the ship sailed back to Belgium. Most of the passengers died in concentration camps. My good friend Chuck Blatteis here in Memphis is the son of one of the few survivors of the St. Louis. I remember meeting Nashvillian Rosemary May a few years back. She was Dutch and ended up in a concentration camp after their US visa was ultimately delayed so long (quite deliberately, of course) that they were stuck in Amsterdam when the Nazis took over and rounded everyone up.
Putting "English Only" in context: how we got here
Yesterday, Mike Byrd at Enclave described immigrant policy politics as "a fight to which Tennessee is late in coming..." (see here).
In response, I reviewed Tennessee's recent history using the lives of immigrants as a political weapon, with 2006 being a pivotal year here, as it was in the rest of the country:
"a fight to which Tennessee is late in coming..."
I understand your point if you are saying that Tennessee's most recent immigration comes after similar waves that came less recently to other parts of the country. Otherwise, if you are saying that Tennessee hasn't been in the thick of the immigration wars over the past few years, it is to the credit of those on the immigrants' side of the fight that you have that impression.
Things really started heating up on a national scale in 2006. One key event was that the U.S. House voted to make all illegal immigrants felons in HR 4437. That extreme measure sparked the major pro-immigrant rallies across the nation and united conservatives and liberals in opposition - the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land shared a stage with Teddy Kennedy, for example.
Tennessee was right there with the rest of them.
In the summer of 2005, FAIR convened here with Marsha Blackburn and Phil Valentine in tow. About that same time, a Middle Tennessee judge ordered a woman to learn English or lose custody of her children. The next thing you know, the state Republicans are announcing their formation of an immigration task force. In November 2005, Steve Gill signaled that immigration would be the GOP's wedge issue against Bredesen in 2006.
If you're calling immigrant politics a "fight," the fight had been brought to Tennessee. Natives and immigrants alike took action in response.
Marsha Blackburn held a Congressional hearing in which she set up health care executives to scapegoat illegal immigrants for cost pressures in TennCare, they refused to comply, and she refused to listen.
My readers imagined political campaigns in which their views on immigration were trumpeted instead of some of the scapegoating that was popular at the time.
Claudia Nunez was taken from her family and scheduled for deportation - and at about the same time the Nashville City Paper ran an editorial calling for a simplification of the path to legal status.
Still, in 2006, English Only was launched during Hispanic Heritage Month, starting its successful run in the Metro Council before it was vetoed in 2007 by Mayor Bill Purcell. Also, Gustavo Reyes became the justification for Davidson County asking for 287(g). The Nation ran a cover story finding nativism in Nashville. Phil Valentine broke out the "shoot him" solution. Police responding to a call about "a couple of Mexicans" shot and killed Fermin Estrada in front of his family at a barbeque he was hosting on his own land.
We've really been in the thick of this for a while. That it's not an all-out-war in Tennessee is to the credit of advocates, immigrants, and the legislators who have stood up against the negativity.
HNN: When illegal immigrants continue to commit crimes after 287(g), what is the next power or set of powers that you could envision being requested for your department or for the police department?
Hall: That is a question for the federal government. They would be the entity that would determine whether or not they want to give local jurisdictions any further powers.
Even though others are already planning their next steps to antagonize immigrants, I am hopeful that with each passing year, history is taking Nashville further in the direction of humanity and hospitality.
We certainly have a chance to move in the direction of humanity and hospitality when the English charter change proposals come up for a vote in January - if we defeat them.
Consider the timing of when the special election will be held: the week of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The week of the inaugural.
We should not allow our optimistic spirit to be quenched and our neighbors to be demonized as they are used as mere political pawns. We cannot let anyone advance the minute hand on the doomsday clock for immigrants - which also debuted in 2006.
Hispanic business leaders in Knoxville sit down for "roundtable" with News Sentinel
The Knoxville News Sentinel conducted a roundtable interview with local Hispanic business leaders in that city - the article is worth a read.
Some excerpts:
Mother unaware her daughter was in the infirmary
I do think that the state governments have certain measures to care for the community. Public schools do a great job of taking kids. They don't ask. They don't care if your parents are legal - if a kid was born here or not. If you live in the area, you come to school no matter what. So that's great. However, there are like three or four translators for the whole county. That's not enough. I've been as a mom in meetings at the school where all the parents are there and the principal of the school has asked me to translate? And he sits me in a corner with all the Hispanic parents, and me a parent, is translating the meeting. So, yes, they're taking the kids, but it doesn't stop there. A lot of these parents don't speak English. I'm just using public schools as an example because that's what I see every day. A Hispanic lady called me and said "can you please call school. They are calling me. I don't know what's happening. And they just tell me OK, OK." She didn't know what they were saying. I called. Her daughter was throwing up in the infirmary and they wanted her to pick her up. If you're going to take the kids, you need to care for that community.
FBI apologizes
I was at the Citizens Academy of the FBI and one of the agents mentioned that the Hispanic community was growing and with the growth of the Hispanic community they also brought their problems, which is gangs. So I raised my hand because I thought, well I'm part of that community. I don't think I bring my problems like a gang. So I make the correction that the problems follow all these gangsters, they follow the community because we are a target of them. Then they made the correction and apologized.
The group can be contacted at contact@nashvilleforallofus.org - or, if you want to volunteer, the e-mail address is volunteer@nashvilleforallofus.org
They have a sign up page, and contributions are being accepted for a campaign.
I have already signed up the Hispanic Nashville Notebook as a member of the Nashville for All of Us coalition. Please continue to advocate as you have been, but now there is a new, city-wide group for us to get plugged into as well.
Please also consider if your own group should join the growing number of supporters of the Nashville for All of Us coalition.
Before Volz do-over, Nashville jury gives unvisaed youth a fair trial, applies the law's "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard to murder charges
Nashvillian Eric Volz announces his Nicaraguan murder re-trial days later, denounces hidden motives
NewsChannel5 reports here that a Nashville jury has unanimously acquitted a young man accused of murder who is in the U.S. without a visa.
Two jurors told NewsChannel5 that they couldn't "add all of [the evidence] up together" under the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard, and they therefore could not vote to convict the defendant Jose Murillo Sosa of the tragic and brutal murders of Lori and Adrian Rountree. One of the jurors said that they "don't want a guilty man walking free" but that they also "wouldn't want to see an innocent man spend time in jail."
The fact that the jury could see an unvisaed defendant as potentially innocent at all and apply the same "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard to him as they would to any other defendant is a testament to the American justice system working out the difficult decisions of guilt or innocence with an even hand, at a time when unvisaed immigrants in the U.S. have been the target of a great deal of negativity in recent years.
The acquittal came within days of the news that Nashvillian Eric Volz announced that he is to be retried in Nicaragua for the similiarly brutal and tragic murder of his ex-girlfriend (story here), in a case in which he says the accusations against him are fueled by anti-immigrant (in this case, anti-American-immigrant) sentiment in Nicaragua (story here). Volz was originally convicted of this murder and spent over a year in jail, but his conviction overturned on appeal (story here).
In the recent acquittal, Nashville is providing an example to the world of what it means to have equal justice for all, reinforcing in at least this one case the previously expressed opinion by Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson that even illegal immigrants can get a fair trial in this city.
Nashvillians are already opposing English charter change, with or without campaign
Hundreds write letters, blog posts, join new Facebook groups
Nashville residents are increasingly urging an "Against" vote on January 22, in opposition to the proposed English charter change (also described as English Only, English First, or a language ban).
With the ballot box little more than two months away (and early voting starting even sooner), the grassroots opposition has been simmering for months on blogs and in letters to the editors of local newspapers, and it has now spread to Facebook groups and a number of organizations around town.
There is still no public campaign being waged by the group called "Nashville for All of Us," which has filed with the Election Commission for the purpose of opposing the measure (story here). The lack of any public movement by the group has been lamented by the Nashville City Paper in this editorial.
But ordinary Nashvillians are speaking up, with or without a formal campaign.
Four new groups on Facebook, for example, are only days old but have drawn hundreds of members:
(The group, which I started, is also available outside Facebook at nashvillesmoment.com)
Nashville for All of Us (170 members at last count, in support of but not officially representing the Election Commission-sanctioned group of the same name)
Pushing an anti-immigrant agenda–with your “English-only” nonsense and your 287(g) programs and your raids–makes employers, especially international employers leery of locating here. It’s not just a matter of whether they want to hire “illegal” immigrants. It’s that we look hostile to people who are different than us. If an employer in, say, Japan wants to set up a technology-based industry in the U.S. (perhaps to save on shipping), he’s going to want to send a core group of people over here to set up the business and run it, at least for a while. If you’re going to send your best and brightest, most trusted employees half-way around the world, you’re not going to keep those employees if you send them to a place that openly hates them.
...makes employers, especially international employers, leery of locating here.
The only want that we can overcome this movement is to make sure that the turnout to vote against his legislation is so overwhelming that they dare not bring it for consideration again.
So Nashvillians, it’s time to get the network moving. Contact all of your friends, your family members, anyone who thinks that this election is a waste of time and money and that that this legislation is inhospitable, and get them to vote against this proposal.
Contact all of your friends, your family members, anyone who thinks that this election is a waste of time and money and that that this legislation is inhospitable...
Nationwide negative press has also followed Nashville in the wake of its desire to spread "English only" throughout metro government offices. USA Today, among others, has written negative reviews about our city, a city which touted itself on being inclusive and diversity-forward in its marketing. The nation is watching Nashville and we are giving them plenty to discuss.
The nation is watching Nashville and we are giving them plenty to discuss.
[The] English Only charter referendum, coming for a vote in January, will live or die on the votes of the African American community, just like California's Proposition 8 resolution did last week. It will be ironic if Eric Crafton wins his fight against Nashville's immigrant community the same week we commemorate the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the American civil rights struggle.
...the same week we commemorate the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the American civil rights struggle.
As it stands, the amendment removes instead of clarifies, and diminishes Metro instead of strengthens it. If enacted as is, it means Metro government will not allow itself to translate any of its government business paperwork into any other language. So (just for starters) DMV forms, car registration forms etc., -- all that ancillary government paperwork translated out of courtesy to new immigrants so they can conduct their proper business as they learn English -- will no longer be in other languages other than English.
So what's wrong with that, you say? They have to learn English, you say. It makes no sense, I say. English is not absorbed by osmosis, it is learned. (And on a larger scale, anyone remember being taught about the Rosetta stone back in High School?)
It then makes no sense that Metro should cut back on its authority over its new immigrant citizens by not providing translations for certain services. Why would we cut back on our authority? Metro has to make this basic paperwork available in other languages so people can do the right and legal thing when they get here.
It then makes no sense that Metro should cut back on its authority...
No rationale for pushing for this charter amendment, either substantively (which I have discussed before) or procedurally, can be taken from a conservative political philosophy. It is too late to pull back now - the signatures are in. But we can take a lesson about this before January, and realize that just because this snipe is on the ballot, it doesn’t mean we have to pass the Metropolitan government equivalent of the Third Amendment.
No rationale for pushing for this charter amendment, either substantively ... or procedurally, can be taken from a conservative political philosophy.
My family and I lived outside the United States for a short period of time. The country where we lived does not have English as a primary language.
For us, going to the grocery store or sending a letter back home or helping our children meet and play with other children at the park or finding our way to church the first time were all challenges. Many times our saviors were people patient with our very limited abilities in their language and people who were willing to try their little bit of English to help us understand. Their generosity allowed us to survive.
And now a part of my country -- a part of the country that I, in fact, used to enjoy -- is not going to return the favor. I'm ashamed of those in Nashville who pushed this effort, and I hope and pray it is soundly defeated in November.
Many times our saviors were people patient with our very limited abilities in their language...
Letters to the editor
The Tennessean and Nashville City Paper have also published letters to the editor against the English charter change, including these:
I agree if someone chooses to live in a country and is not fluent in the language, they should make every reasonable effort to learn the language but that doesn’t mean we should expect them to be proficient in it from day one, or not provide any assistance to help them along the way.
I have to believe the people pushing these agendas have never traveled outside our own country and would have a different attitude if they “walked a mile in their shoes.”
...they should make every reasonable effort to learn the language but that doesn’t mean we should expect them to be proficient in it from day one...
[T]ake the time and money that you’d like to use for the petition campaign and actually help those wanting to learn English. Encourage all those that mention it to you to also step forward with their time and/or money.
In many cases, it’s not the motivation to learn English that is lacking, it’s the resources of having classes available at the times the learners need (some people actually work), at the levels that the learners need (some know no English and others know some and others are mostly fluent), in the format the learners need (some need individual tutoring while others can use a lecture hall size class).
Take the time and money ... and actually help those wanting to learn English
If Obama should win, especially if he wins big, I’d really like to see my fellow Democrats being graceful in victory. Part of the attraction for me to Mr. Obama was his demeanor, and he and his wife are classy at all times. We can do our part after the fact by being magnanimous and reminding people that the real work is just getting started. Because it is. I will diligently monitor the Obama administration, and it my single biggest hope that he communicates to America that we must evolve as a Nation, it is well past time that we recognize that our standard of living cannot be maintained indefinitely. Ask us to volunteer. Ask us to conserve. Ask us to step up and contribute.
Watching history ... mccain is giving a beautiful speech ... If McCain had spoken like this for the last few months, he may have been elected ... I'm going to have a whole lot of pissed off relatives tomorrow. I may not answer my telephone for days.
U.S. citizens have right to vote regardless of English skills, say local Republican and Democrat leaders
"To say that a Latino who doesn't speak perfect English is not a citizen is simply wrong"
Raul Lopez, president of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Tennessee, and Fabian Bedne, president of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats, stubmitted a joint statement to the Tennessean about U.S. citizen voters who don't speak English.
To say that a Latino who doesn't speak perfect English is not a citizen is simply wrong; there are a variety of reasons why this could happen. While it is generally true that naturalization applicants must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language, many individuals are specifically exempt from this requirement, including the following applicants, who on the date of filing:
>> Have been residing in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 15 years or more and are over 55 years of age.
>> Have been residing in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 20 years or more and are over 50 years of age.
>> Have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, where the impairment affects the applicant's ability to learn English.
Furthermore, residents who arrive here from places such as Puerto Rico, where English is not the official or dominant language, are U.S. citizens from birth. Puerto Ricans who live in the U.S. are, of course, allowed to register to vote and are not required to submit to a language test. Accordingly, they may not yet have acquired a command of the English language.
Locals speak up on American uniqueness, immigrant policy, Metro's use of foreign language, and presidential candidates
The Tennessean is publishing this series with locals talking about America, including one interview with Andres Bermudez, a carpenter whose parents immigrated from Argentina. Bermudez talks about how Americans are relatively safe from their government compared to citizens of other countries, and how he believes immigrant policy should be inspired by the Statue of Liberty.
The Tennessean separately reported here that a razor-thin, within-the-margin-of-error majority of Middle Tennesseans opposes a proposed ban of foreign language use by Metro government:
Forty-seven percent of those polled said they would oppose or lean toward opposing a measure that would bar Metro government agencies from translating written materials into other languages or offering interpreters to the public. Forty-six percent of voters indicated they would support the measure, and 7 percent didn't know or declined to answer.
"This country was built by immigrants," said Arthur Ebbets, a retired naval aviation instructor who participated in the poll. " … Here we have some people who are in the early stages. And in the early stages I don't think that they should be held back."
Ebbets, who grew up in New York, said the newness of immigration to Nashville may attract some to the measure.
The Spanish-language local daily El Crucero reported in its October 24 edition that 78% of Hispanic Nashvillians favor Obama, as opposed to 13% who favor McCain.
The survey size of both the Tennessean poll and the El Crucero poll was 200.
Some local Hispanic voters are weighing in on this Post Politics entry about the support for Bush among Hispanics in 2004.
Finally, local blogger Aunt B expressed consternation in this post earlier this month when she learned that Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Yuri Cunza was seriously considering McCain.
"Keep on protecting us from the dangerous aliens." -Agent K
What do Nashville Scene writer PJ Tobia and Tommy Lee Jones' Men in Black character Agent K have in common? (Hint: see this post by Tobia and this clip from MIB.)
Give up?
The answer is an appreciation for the difference.
Few would disagree, but few also consciously remember, that there is a difference between working without a visa and murdering without a visa.
Of course working and murdering are different; it is nearly unfathomable that anyone would not be able to tell the two apart. And yet, Tobia and the fictional Man in Black are among the few who remember this difference.
You yourself might be surprised at your capacity for flubbing the difference. For example:
In the middle of a political discussion about immigration, you might not think too disapprovingly of the argument (or you might yourself make the argument) that anyone without a visa is a criminal*. A Wisconsin man took this position in a letter to the editor he wrote to the Scene ("Border call-out") in response to Tobia's piece.
Your congressman in the 2006 U.S. House of Representatives might have cast one of the votes that passed HR 4437, which would have turned all unvisaed immigrants into felons. (Even though it was rejected by the Senate, passage of HR 4437 is what sparked the 2006 marches.)
In Nashville, you might unconditionally support the local-federal immigration enforcement program called 287(g). That's the one we use to tear ordinary, noncriminal families apart in the name of crime prevention, even though the program can't be counted on to prevent crime (which was Tobia's point).
Lumping work visa violators into a pot with violent criminals desensitizes us to the difference between work and murder, making us divert legislative and law enforcement resources away from specific and undeniably harmful acts of violence and toward a contested economic threat like unlicensed labor.
This diversion and diffusion of resources away from the real criminals is why the stepped-up immigration enforcement crackdowns of the last few years still seem like a drop in the bucket. While our federal and local efforts take increasingly random pot shots at the larger unvisaed population containing millions of decent people, the smaller population of violent criminals will only coincidentally be swept up here and there.
There is an opportunity here for our sheriffs, mayors, senators, presidential candidates and voters to recognize the difference between workers and real criminals and support enforcement measures which put the violent criminals at the front of the line.
Until those proposals are made, we can either be prone to forget (a lack of interest can be just as powerful as the Men in Black's little red light), or we can choose to remember and remind ourselves of the difference.
*For facts disproving the everyone-is-a-criminal argument, look at the Chattanooga numbers for this April 2008 roundup, in which administrative but not criminal charges were filed against 100 visaless workers.
Among the people featured in the videos are the organization's chairman Raul Lopez, Vice Chair Juan Borges, and local businesswoman Marcela Gomez, whose YouTube profile hosts the videos.
Fabian Bedne addresses Clarksville Democrats at Latinos for Obama House Party
Photo Credit Bill Larson, Clarksville Online Used with permission
Clarksville Online reported here on the recent Latinos for Obama House Party at the Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters in Clarksville, featuring Fabian Bedne as speaker:
The Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters, 534 Madison Street, served as the host site for the Latinos For Obama House Party. As a prelude to the 2nd presidential debate, the gathering was a well attended affair that drew participants from beyond just the Latino/Hispanic community.
Fabian Bedne, an architectural engineer, was the guest speaker for the event. ... Bedne stated that he is a supporter of educational achievement and economic development. In the past, the Black community and the Latino/Hispanic communities have both received the same political consideration in American politics, namely that of being ignored or taken for granted, marginalized.
During his address he noted that issues of concern to the Latino/Hispanic community are the same as with the Black community. He stated that many assume that immigration is the top concern of Latinos and Hispanics but that is incorrect. “We care about the economy, education, the war and then immigration, in that order.” ... During the question and answer session that followed his address, an audience member asked, ” “How do you answer someone who tells you vote your biblical heritage?” Another individual responded saying, “I would tell them, my biblical heritage tells me to vote for someone who will help the poor, who will feed the hungry, who will shelter the homeless and clothe the naked and drive the moneychangers out of the temples. Someone who will do unto his fellowman as he or she would wish done for himself.” This response was soundly applauded.
Literally scalped at work, young Chattanooga woman neither reports nor self-deports
Few aware that compensation for injury available to all workers despite immigration status
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports here on the fear among unvisaed Hispanic workers when it comes to reporting injuries on the job, even though Tennessee law requires payment of workers compensation claims regardless of immigration status.
One young Chattanooga woman is reported to have had her scalp literally ripped off on the job, but she will not report it because she is afraid of being deported out of the U.S.:
Joe Wolverton, a worker’s compensation attorney reaching out to the Hispanic community, opened his office in the Highland Park neighborhood about three months ago and says he’s heard about people who are afraid to speak out.
“We had a girl that had her hair caught in a machine and had her scalp ripped off,” he said. “This young lady was about 23, her whole life in front of her, but now she is disfigured. But she didn’t want to pursue the worker’s (compensation) case because she said she was here without papers, hadn’t used her real name and was afraid immigration would come get her.”
Mr. Wolverton said he explains to immigrants that in Tennessee the immigration status of someone injured at work doesn’t matter.
“In Tennessee, regardless of one’s immigration status, if one is injured at work, then he has every right to receive compensation during his disability,” he said.
The article states that the non-Hispanic White population makes up 72% of reported work-related injuries in Tennessee; 14% are Black non-Hispanic; 19% are Hispanic; and 3% are Asian. The number of fatal occupational injuries in Tennessee are 118 White; 17 Black; 8 Hispanic; and 3 Asian.
English Only special election scheduled 3 days after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Six-figure price tag
Voters will address no other issue January 22, 2009 From the Tennessean:
It's set — Metro Nashville voters will decide on Jan. 22 whether to keep city business from being done in any language but English.
But it's going to cost them. The Davidson County Election Commission, which on Friday certified petition signatures necessary for the vote, estimated the special election will cost $350,000 to $500,000.
The council must vote on taking money from the reserves or elsewhere to pay for the election, Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling said. ... Commission Chairman Eddie Bryan abstained in protest.
"I am still on the money thing," Bryan said. "That's not good, and it hurts us down the road. And they are connected to a hate group. I want no part of it."
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is on January 19, 2009.
Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Is Mexican caricature the Bible Belt's new insult?
Negative tone has been rejected by some Christians, but continues nonetheless
Less than one month after the Hispanic Nashville Notebook called for evangelicals to get it right on Hispanics and immigration (see here), Bob DeMoss and Mark Whitlock, two well-known Christian writers from the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tennessee, are selling a product they call "Obama Waffles," in which Barack Obama appears in caricature in a Mexican sombrero, and references are made in jest to multiculturalism, foreign languages, and "illegal aliens."
Also this month, advocates of the proposed English Only foreign language ban superimposed the faces of their perceived political enemies onto a poster of the movie The Three Amigos, in which the characters are wearing Mexican mariachi uniforms (story on the Nashville Scene blog here).
Why would these caricatures be of concern for a Christian? Here's what I said last time:
In an environment in which Hispanics and/or immigrants are the subject of politically generated suspicion and scorn, it certainly isn't right for Southern Baptists and other evangelicals to gin up more suspicion and scorn.
Put another way, you don't use in a political barb the imagery of Mexicans and/or immigrants (even unvisaed immigrants), when mere association with them is the joke, if you are a Christian hell-bent on loving your neighbor as yourself. The negativity of it is wrong, and good conservatives have both warned against this kind of tone in the past (see Leslie Sanchez quotes here) and also asked for forgiveness for it in Nashville's LP Field (see Sam Brownback quote here).
At the Values Voters Summit where the Obama Waffles were sold, the organizers eventually ejected DeMoss' and Whitlock's booth and condemned their product as having improper "tone and content" and having "crosse[d] the line into coarseness and bias":
Family Research Council Action executive director David Nammo released the following statement:
"We strongly condemn the tone and content of materials that were exhibited by one of the vendors at this weekend's Values Voter Summit. The materials represent an attempt at parody that crosses the line into coarseness and bias."
"The exhibitor contacted our reviewer just days before the Summit by email and described material that sounded like it was devoted to political flip-flops on policy issues. When the content of the materials was brought to the attention of FRC Action senior officials today, they were removed and the exhibit was dismantled by the vendor at our insistence. It is our responsibility to fully vet materials that are offered at any event we cosponsor, but we are deeply dismayed that this vendor violated the spirit, message and tone of our event in such an offensive manner."
"The Values Voter Summit represents a coming together of many long-established organizations that work across denominational and ethnic lines to celebrate and promote the family and a culture of life. We reject any communications that divide and distract us and frustrate these principles. Bishop Harry Jackson's High Impact Leadership Coalition, Gary Bauer's American Values, and Alliance Defense Fund join us in rejecting this material."
When asked why Obama was pictured in a sombrero, DeMoss and Whitlock gave the following explanation to the American News Project (video here):
"Positions on the, the border... We're havin' th-, him, erase the line between the U.S. and Mex-"
As of September 25, neither DeMoss nor Whitlock had responded to a Tuesday, September 16 e-mail request for an interview (sent to interviewrequests@obamawaffles.com)
Apology to Lou Dobbs
DeMoss and Whitlock have repeatedly defended their Obama Waffles product as "humor." To the extent that they have apologized for anything, it has been not for the box itself but for something else: having posted a picture of Lou Dobbs on their web site without Dobbs' permission. According to the story on ObamaWaffles.com (here), "the caption of the [since removed] post read:
Progressive wish list for state immigration laws cites Tennessee's past highs and lows
Will any of these ideas show up at Legislative Plaza in 2009?
Looking for appropriate ways in which state-level laws can positively address immigrants and immigration, the Progressive States Network has published an exhaustive report called the State Immigration Project, offering a five-pronged approach:
Progressive leaders need to promote policies that will highlight that those leading the anti-immigrant charge are actually against the interests of working families of all races and immigrant status. Key progressive immigration strategies include:
Wage Enforcement as Immigration Policy
Encouraging Immigrant Integration and Naturalization
Immigrants and Public Benefits
Voting Reform versus "Voter ID" Attacks, and
Immigrant Outreach as Public Safety and Anti-Terror Policy
Tennessee's past record on positive immigration legislation is mixed. On the positive side, last year's legislative session passed an anti-racial profiling bill and rejected 65 bills that were identified as harmful (here) by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. Two other positive immigration law developments in Tennessee, cited by this Progressive States report, are a notario (lawyer impersonator) fraud prevention law passed in 2006, and an anti-trafficking law passed in 2008.
On the other hand, this Report paints Tennessee's approach overall as punitive because of legislative moves regarding employer sanctions, ID laws, and 287(g).
I thought that one glaring error from the public safety and anti-terror section of this report was the lack of a proposal that focuses law enforcement resources on dangerous criminals who also happen to be unvisaed. There's opportunity there, since no one opposes targeted enforcement against real threats to pubic safety. The controversies are usually over the bear traps carelessly set for not only dangerous criminals but also for ordinary unvisaed workers and sometimes even legal immigrants and citizens.
Fidel Castro's daughter to speak at Austin Peay October 16 amid string of Hispanic Cultural Center events
Culture and civic engagement, Symphony conductor, and Salsa night among other events
More information about upcoming Heritage Month events hosted by the Hispanic Cultural Center at Austin Peay State University, from the AllState student newspaper:
The Hispanic Cultural Center (HCC) hosted Café Hispanico on Wednesday, Sept. 10 in Morgan University Center room 308. Accounting clerk Pat Treviño facilitated the open conversation about ways to preserve Hispanic culture by sharing her own genealogy research with students who attended the event, entitled "Preserving Hispanic Culture in a Multi-Cultural Society." ... The HCC will host two more Café Hispanico events this semester on Tuesday, Oct. 21 and Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The Oct. 21 event is entitled "Hispanic Culture with Respect to Civic Engagement". ... The HCC will officially kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with a guest lecture by Nashville Symphony conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. Guerrero will speak at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23 in the Music/Mass Communication Concert Hall. Salsa Night will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3 in the Foy Fitness Center. The HCC will close out Hispanic Heritage Month with guest speaker Alina Fernandez, daughter of former Cuban president Fidel Castro. Fernandez will speak at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16 in the MMC Concert Hall.
A complete list of events can be found on the HCC homepage.
A few days after the Tennessee Republican Party issued this press release marking Hispanic Heritage Month, the Tennessee Democratic Party mentioned the holiday in its "Munday Message" mailing from Wade Munday:
A MESSAGE FROM MIDDLE TENNESSEE HISPANIC DEMOCRATS CHAIR FABIAN BEDNE
This month, we celebrate Tennessee's proud Hispanic heritage from their military service to their cultural influence in our state's formation. It is time to recognize our multi-cultural influence in our nation and our state.
We know the struggle as ordinary Americans hoping to grasp the American dream. America's proudest heritage are the women and men who have worked to advocate for freedom and prosperity through hard work and a responsible government.
Join the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats this month as we celebrate the work of Hispanic Democrats and our cultural heritage.
The name of every person who signed the English Only petition
Sean Braisted posted the names of every Davidson County resident who signed the English Only (foreign language ban) petition. See Sean's post here, which also includes a link to the downloadable Excel file.
Ya Es Hora Tennessee: family festival and voter registration drive this Saturday, September 6
A Hispanic-American Family Festival and Voter Education and Registration Drive will take place this Saturday:
HISPANIC BUSINESS LEADERS, COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, SPANISH MEDIA AND YA ES HORA TENNESSEE! (Now's the Time Tennessee!) SUPPORTERS AND VOLUNTEERS JOIN IN A COMMUNITY EFFORT TO REGISTER AND EDUCATE VOTERS
Eligible U.S. Citizens to Register to Vote and Learn How to Use Voting Machine
What: Hispanic-American Family Festival - Voter Education and Registration Drive
When: Saturday, September 6th, 2008 from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Where: Coleman Community Center, 384 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN
Why: Latino voters across the United States are expected to be a key constituency in the upcoming elections. Over nine million Latinos voted in 2004, and up to ten million are expected this year. With education and healthcare as two of the populations most pressing concerns, the Latino vote will impact the election results in November.
Ya Es Hora Tennessee! launched its voter education campaign earlier in the summer with the goal to actively educate people about the importance of voting, when and where to vote, and how the process works.
Nashville's city leaders published "Agenda" on immigration in 2007: status report, anyone?
I'd like to know what's being done to advance the proactive immigration plank of Nashville's Agenda, a 2007 plan for Music City:
IMMIGRATION
To make Nashville the best it can be…
Identify ways to encourage understanding of immigration issues – including the problems associated with illegal immigrants – in a broader context of valuing cultural diversity and encouraging appreciation for new Nashvillians.
* Create more positive image of immigration in the city. Encourage corporate and political leaders to educate city on value of diversity and immigration. Find ways to increase cultural awareness in Nashville through more city-wide celebrations like the Celebration of Cultures festival. Educate public about differences between immigrants and illegal immigrants with a focus on the total immigrant population. * Expand diversity training to identify cultural differences provided in the workplace, school, religious institution and govt. * Encourage local corporations to “adopt” at-risk or immigrant neighborhoods for civic training and job placement. * Provide a database and services that are multi-lingual to address specific newcomer needs. * Convene a group of policy-makers to develop a special driver’s license for undocumented immigrants that, at a minimum, allows them to drive to and from work. * Create an Office of Immigrant Integration that provides education, information services and forums that encourage civil conversation * Hold “civics” classes at schools and libraries for new Nashvillians on local laws, government processes and services available. * Create a leadership academy which partners immigrant leaders with native Nashvillians to expand partnerships and create stronger leaders.
Nashville author envisions Hispanic politics of 2040 in unpolished George's Flag
Nashville author Edward Ronny Arnold has self-published George's Flag, a fictional novel about a Hispanic political uprising that is decades in the making, culminating in the year 2040 with the election of the first Hispanic president of the United States.
George’s Flag and its author Mr. Arnold were listed at the 2007 Southern Festival of Books, and Ron Wynn of the Nashville City Paper described the work here as “very intriguing” and an “entertaining, exciting tale.”
What I found in George's Flag, however, was a first draft instead of a finished product. As may be a hazard inherent to self-publishing, this work of fiction needs improvement in plot and character development, subject matter research, spelling and grammar. Despite the accolades of the Southern Festival of Books and the City Paper, I don't think the 548 pages of this book are ready for prime time.
The problem isn't so much that the plot is wildly nonsensical, which it is - from the central idea that six children would launch and sustain a 40-year presidential campaign, to the surprise transformation of a central character from a mild-mannered young woman into an Israeli-trained killing machine - with many similar twists and turns in between. There are just too many rough edges in the book to sustain any suspension of disbelief.
For starters, the characters do and say unnatural things - a drinking game could be based solely on the frequency of the various characters' fits of laughing for no apparent reason. The Catholic characters repeatedly confuse the Bible with Ben Franklin in the same grammatically awkward way ("God helps those that help themselves.”) Many of the diverse members of the book's cast make bold pronouncements about the future ("They will fail!") Some people may talk like that in real life (an apparent example is here), but I don't think it's as much of the population that George's Flag would have us believe.
The spelling errors are also too numerous for a final published work. References are made to “Chicago, Illinois Mayor Richard Daily” (his name is “Daley”), an immigration proposal to “wave” instead of waive fees, measurements made with a “gage” and not a gauge, students from “Berkley” as opposed to Berkeley, a “mute” and not a moot point, “loosing” as opposed to losing, and the government being not liable but “libel” for its abuses.
Even putting aside the plot, characters, spelling, and grammar, the greatest challenge for any future revision of this book is the author's recognition that he does not have an intimate understanding of his subject, Hispanic people. Arnold openly admitted to me by e-mail, “My experience with the Hispanic community is limited.”
This lack of experience explains Arnold's rookie mistake of translating portions of the dialogue into Spanish using only computer translation software. The easier and better alternative, if native speakers were not available to assist with translation, would be to eliminate the Spanish text altogether, and indicate through italics or some other device that Spanish was being spoken. Letting a computer mangle the language, and leaving the subject matter of the book largely unresearched, has the effect of making George's Flag unreadable from the point of view of a Hispanic or Spanish-speaking audience.
Given Arnold's admitted unfamiliarity with the subject matter of the novel, the question arises, what compelled this author to write George's Flag? Arnold answers by describing his personal affection for Hispanic Americans:
I have observed for many years the kindness, gentleness and strength of the Hispanic men and women as they shop at Kroger. There is an old saying; you can tell a "real" man easily, he is the one holding the baby. He is so strong he can be gentle. I see many Hispanic men holding babies. I have observed the interaction of the families and it is one of respect. My wife is from the Philippines and there are similarities.
I have often watched Hispanic men work, they work their butts off. Also, I have been to Mexico and been to the poor areas on three occasions. My friend, [name deleted], also has been to Mexico many times. He tells so many wonderful stories of the people. The inspiration for the book came from observing a large group of Hispanic men, women and children at my daughter's closing ceremonies for Pre-K at Fall-Hamilton Elementary school in 2006. They proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance and clapped loudly for "every" child that received a certificate. It occurred to me that there is a new generation of Americans. These Hispanics have not abandoned their language and culture but embraced America and its ideals.
In light of Arnold's apparently positive opinions, his inclusion of starkly negative dialogue throughout the book can be shocking:
“taco heads” and “illegal taco heads”
“perra” (multiple times)
“stupid Mexicans” (multiple times)
“stupids”
“bastards”
“Mexican slut whore”
“blood thirsty, drug crazed killers”
“They are like sheep”
“You slept in a bed that a Mexican slept in .. Did you get sick?”
“Father Sinclair laughed. 'You really think you can get a wealthy American man or woman to vote for a Hispanic?'”
“He stated that he was afraid he would get taco stains on her suit from her loud mouth.”
The reader gets no indication that this kind of vocabulary or dialogue is uncommon in the fictional America of George’s Flag. For instance, the "taco stains" quote is attributed to a presidential candidate, who suffers no apparent political fallout as a result. We don’t know whether the author thinks the U.S. is already at that level of negativity or, if we are not, how he thinks we will get there.
What the book does offer in the way of insight into Hispanic identity comes across as alien to me. For example, there is little mention of the way I understand most Hispanics and Latinos identify themselves, which is by national origin - my friends describe themselves or their families as being from Mexico or Honduras, for example. The characters in George’s Flag, on the other hand, see themselves through Mayan, Aztec, and other such lenses. That may be how some people identify themselves (and it may be useful for a plot point late in the book), but not any of the many Hispanic Nashvillians I know identify themselves that way, from community leaders to former clients to my fellow believers at a local Spanish-speaking church.
What this book could use the most are the themes, ideas, movements, strategies, and the kind of people and perspectives that would come with greater familiarity with Hispanic people and Hispanic politics. What about a nod to the differing opinions on immigration within the various Hispanic communities and how they might change as we move toward 2040? There are substantive issues other than immigration that will draw Hispanic voters to the polls between now and then; explore how the political landscape will or will not change as those issues mature. Various existing and interesting statistics about long-time American Hispanic families and new Hispanic immigrants could be extrapolated into the future, as well. The Hispanic Americans whose families have been in the country since long before the 21st century could certainly get more attention in a book supposedly about the future of Hispanic politics in America. A growing number of Hispanic Nashvillians are readily available for an author to interview on these various topics, and input from them would be invaluable to any future rewrite of this novel (and also to local, state, and national politics, for that matter).
In its current form, George’s Flag is in some ways memorable, from the computer-giddy nuns on page 97, to the souped-up Ferrari with the Lincoln Town car body (funded by and blessed at the Vatican) on pages 141-151, to the Hispanic politician described on page 426 as a “great lawyer” because “he is very blunt and screams a lot,” to the convenient summary of the plot on page 451, in which a character says, “Sounds like a good book.”
Despite my interest in Hispanic themes and politics, and my appreciation for the fact that a local author wrote over 500 pages combining those subjects, George's Flag is not polished, researched, or readable enough to stay on my bookshelf. Like the book's heroine who was born in 2000 and groomed to be president in 2040, the 2008 version just isn't ready yet.
Fabian Bedne confirmed as Obama Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention
Fabian Bedne has been confirmed as an Obama Alternate Delegate for TN to the Democratic National Convention, the Hispanic Nashville Notebook has learned.
"I look forward to meeting with other Latino Democrats from around the Country and learn from them," said Bedne.
Bedne's civic and political involvement was summarized in a recent Hispanic Nashville Notebook story here.
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America has launched The CCA 360, a PR site dedicated to various explanations about company-related issues that have attracted national attention and criticism:
Unlike many blogs, "so-called" informational Web sites or news outlets that purport to cover or report objectively on the private prison industry and Corrections Corporation of America, the content here does not reflect a narrow agenda or view point. Instead, TheCCA360.com offers a more complete 360-degree perspective, citing official government records, official documents and respected experts and sources on issues and happenings that impact the company and its industry.
Immigrant detention is the primary focus of the site's Resources page. Elsewhere on the site, the company's spokesperson and company executives defend the company on other issues.
Previous CCA-related stories on HispanicNashville.com can be found here.
one crucial question is, does the proposal itself amount to a foreign language ban? In other words, could Metro still choose to communicate in other languages when federal or state law does not require?
Metro Nashville government has multilingual communication strategies in a variety of areas, including the following, and it is important to know to what extent, if any, communications related to these topics are in jeopardy:
legal rights
a child's first day of school
domestic violence
recycling
rape victim resources
financial counseling
Homework Hotline
recidivism-reducing DUI education
pet ownership tips
access to health care, and
tornado siren instructions
The English Only proposal's sponsor says they're safe. In today's Nashville City Paper (here), the Councilman who is pushing English Only (and calling it English First) is saying that city agencies will still be able to choose to communicate in other languages, even if federal or state law doesn't require them to:
The second-term Councilman also said he’s frustrated with the misconception that the proposed charter amendment would forbid Metro from offering services in other languages.
“Clearly there’s a difference between somebody having a right and the city choosing to provide it if they want to help.”
The text of the proposed city charter amendment (akin to a federal constitutional amendment, but only for Nashville) is what the city would have to abide by if it passes. The answer to the language ban question, therefore, has to be found in the amendment itself, here:
English is the official language of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. Official actions (those which bind or commit the government) shall be taken only in the English language, and all official government communications and publications shall be published only in English. No person shall have a right to government services in any other language. All meetings of the Metro Council, Boards, and Commissions of the Metropolitan Government shall be conducted in English. Nothing in this measure shall be interpreted to conflict with federal or state law.
I'd be interested to hear how readers interpret the language above. Can Metro still communicate in foreign languages by choice if we insert this clause into our city's legal DNA?
Leticia Mason, Natalia Pelaz, and Paulo Boero to speak at Charlemos Spanish
Charlemos Spanish, one of Nashville's Spanish chat groups, sent out this press release announcing its upcoming speakers:
Sister Cities of Nashville’s Spanish social conversation group, Charlemos Spanish, announces its speakers for the beginning of the 2008-2009 season. Each meeting begins with a presentation, in Spanish, followed by small group conversation, in Spanish.
Charlemos Spanish meets the second and fourth Thursday of the month from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Palette Gallery and Cafe at 2119 Belcourt Avenue in Hillsboro Village. All levels of Spanish-speakers, from beginner to native, are invited. The event is free and open to the public.
The speakers are:
* Leticia Mason--originally from Guadalajara, México; a lawyer and certified Spanish court interpreter in the state of Tennessee; “Spanish court interpreters in Tennessee and main differences between the American justice system and the Mexican justice system”; 11 September * Natalia Pelaz--Spanish professor at Belmont University; originally from Spain; “Until soccer united us--How the European Cup created a sense of Spanish unity”, 25 September * Paulo Boero--Spanish professor at Belmont University; originally from Argentina; moved to Nashville at the age of twelve; will speak about Argentine film, 9 October
Charlemos Spanish was created in December 2006 by the Spanish Committee of Sister Cities of Nashville, a nonprofit organization, founded in 1990, dedicated to the promotion of global understanding through educational, professional and cultural exchanges.
Sister Cities of Nashville has one Spanish-speaking sister city--Mendoza in the wine country of Argentina. Nashville has developed a successful high school student exchange with Mendoza. Sister Cities is currently exploring a relationship with Chihuahua, Mexico. A formal International Friendship City relationship with El Port de la Selva, Catalonia, Spain is pending.
Mayor Karl Dean is the Honorary Chair for Sister Cities of Nashville.
Charlemos Spanish is for persons who wish to:
* Speak Spanish on a regular basis * Make bilingual friends * Learn more about Hispanic culture.
The founder and president of Charlemos Spanish is Elizabeth Worrell Braswell. Ms. Braswell is an online Spanish instructor for Austin Peay State University and a board member of Sister Cities of Nashville.
For directions and more information on the gallery go to: http://www.palettegallerycafe.com
Contact:
Elizabeth Worrell Braswell 615-202-0482 elizworrell@comcast.net
Corrections Corporation tightly intertwined with ICE, says new President Damon Hininger
Immigration bureaucracy is "one of the more consistent customers"
Facility in Georgia is "all-ICE"
National press picks up problems In an interview with the Tennesseanhere, Damon Hininger, newly appointed President and COO of Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, identifies the immigration bureaucracy as one of the company's bedrock businesses and points to greater integration with the federal enforcement arm.
On the federal side, our main customers are the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We have a new (federal) contract out in Las Vegas, and we are getting ready to start construction of a 1,072-bed facility there — the Nevada Southern Detention Center.
If you look at the last eight years, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has probably been one of the more consistent customers we've had. They have two potential procurements for another 4,000 beds that we think they'll take some type of action on next year. It would be beds for criminal aliens — non-U.S. citizens, low security.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, our very first contract with them goes back to our company's founding in 1983. We continue to work with them and in pretty creative ways. Our facility down in Lumpkin, Georgia, in Stewart County has turned into an all-ICE facility.
It has courtrooms for immigration judges and other space for about 60 federal caseworkers who work on deportation issues. We put services on site so there's no transport required to a federal courthouse or to a federal immigration office in Atlanta. Everybody is under one roof and detainees can go through the system very quickly.
ICE is challenged on bed space all over the country, but that picture improves if you have detainees going through the system in 30 days, let's say, instead of on average 60 days.
I do not do business with CCA nor own stock in it. I recognize, however, that some people may have ideological differences with its business model. None of those differences surface, though, when non-profit organizations take advantage of charitable donations that CCA generously contributes (e.g., to United Way). It also looks like CCA's PR machine is not asleep at the wheel and has http://www.thecca360.com/ as an outlet to present itself as a good corporate citizen. I would not label CCA a bad guy or a good guy, just your conventional for-profit corporation.
One-day-old Hispanic girl found hidden among Nashville bushes
WSMV and the Tennessean reported (here and here) on the discovery Friday of a one-day-old infant girl hidden among some bushes on McDonald drive in Nashville, which is a street that runs just north of Briley Parkway, near Murfreesboro Road.
According to WSMV, "Tennessee has what's called a 'safe haven' law, meaning a person can legally leave an infant less than 72 hours old at a hospital, police station or fire house with no questions asked."
The police say the child is Hispanic, according to the WSMV report.
Illustration of Pharoah's daughter* by Bethanne Andersen.
*This is off-topic, but at a time when many are caught in the crossfire of what is often a confused and unnecessarily negative policy debate about personal responsibility vis-a-vis immigration law, I find it both instructive and exhortative that Moses' mother violated national law by hiding him instead of killing him, as did Pharoah's daughter by saving him. Considering that the law had come from her own father, Pharoah's daughter betrayed more than just her country - she betrayed her family. As a result, according to the Jewish tradition I learned about here, Pharoah's daughter was renamed "daughter of God."
In the words of Patricia K. Tull, A. B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (audio and PDF here):
She is not in a position to change her father's laws or heart. But she listens to the baby's cries and follows her own law, her own heart. Lacking the power to change governmental policies, the Pharaoh's daughter nevertheless overturns a society gone terribly awry.
Maria Elena Salinas cites Villegas case in national column
Nashville's increasingly famous visaless pregnancy is illustration of why immigrants might self-deport
"Maybe some will – those tired of being hunted like animals or treated like an assassin, as Villegas was" Maria Elena Salinas, a nationally syndicated columnist and a co-anchor of the most watched Spanish-language news program in the U.S., refers in her most recent national column to the Nashville story of Juana Villegas to illustrate the point that treatment of ordinary visaless immigrants in the U.S. is getting so bad that they might in fact voluntarily self-deport.
What has been described as the New York Times as the Misery Strategy and by HispanicNashville.com as bear trap bureacracy is described by Salinas as
being hunted like animals or treated like an assassin, as Villegas was.
Salinas' column is here. More on Villegas, and the national scrutiny that Nashville is under as a result of how she was treated over the July 4 weekend, is here.
RESOLUTION PASSES BY 3-1 MARGIN: Council, Mayor ask Nashville to say "no" to foreign language ban
Mayor Dean: "We have too much potential to allow such an unnecessary change in our law to hurt us in so many ways"
The Tennessean and the City Paper report (here and here) on the Metro Council's passage last night of a resolution asking Davidson County not to sign an "English Only" charter amendment petition to ban foreign languages in Metro communications - and if it were to get on the November ballot, to vote against it. The resolution, introduced by Metro Councilman Ronnie Steine, passed 25 (aye) to 8 (no) to 2 (abstain). A copy of the resolution appears below.
Nashville Mayor Karl Dean addressed the Council before the vote, and the text of his comments also appear below.
Nashville has had role in national pullback
In the last year or so, the country has started to pull back from out-of-control immigrant politics.
Nashville was part of that movement last year, when former Mayor Purcell vetoed the Metro Council's English ordinance, which unlike this year's petition, contained exceptions for health, safety, and welfare* (story here); and just a few months after that at LP Field, former Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback apologized to a Christian audience for the backlash against Hispanics that was sparked by the federal immigration debate (story here).
With last night's resolution, Nashville's city officials have taken a leadership position to keep our city moving in the same direction as last year. Whether Nashville finishes 2008 claiming a leadership position in this practical and moral awakening could depend on whether we put on the ballot and pass a city charter amendment to ban foreign languages in government communications, as the current petition proposes*.
Council resolution had been ruled out by language ban opponents
Interestingly, some opponents of the English Only petition had determined just a few weeks ago that asking the Council for a resolution of this nature would be a practical impossibility, and it was not pursued. Fortunately, despite the miscalculation of ordinary citizens, Councilman Ronnie Steine eventually drafted and championed the successful resolution. He told the Tennesseanhere that "It's important that the public understand that while one council member is supportive, not all of us are."
Address of Mayor Karl Dean to Metro Council
Thank you and good evening. Vice Mayor Neighbors, members of the Council, Madam Clerk, ladies and gentlemen. This is the third time during my nearly 11 months in office that I have come to the Council Chambers at the start of your meeting and I appreciate the opportunity to do so again tonight.
This evening I am here to speak on the proposed charter amendment to make English the official language of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and prohibit any kind of government service from being offered in languages other than English. While I do not question the intentions of the organizers of this initiative, I feel a responsibility as mayor to explain the implications such a radical change in our law could have for our city.
First, let’s talk about what this referendum is not. It is not a vote on immigration reform and it is not a harmless message to office holders. The proposed charter amendment will have absolutely no effect upon efforts to curtail illegal immigration or to reform current national policy. Rather than permitting voters to send a message to the government, the referendum alters our charter in a manner that will create legal, political, social and even moral consequences for years to come.
While the initiative is called English First, to be clear, the language of the amendment is so broad that it would restrict all government communications to English only, and I don’t believe the extent of the impact such a law would have has been fully considered.
Nashville is a growing and vibrant city, and as we have grown in recent years, so too has our reach to the international community. One example of this is the CMA Music Festival, visited by more than 200,000 people this summer. Contributing to the record attendance was a 30 percent increase in international visitors over last year. We had people from Germany, and France – from all over the world here in Nashville for a week in June to listen to the world’s best country music.
This year our library for the first time held an International Puppet Festival with puppet troupes from as far away as China. Attendance at the two-day festival well exceeded expectations, and I believe it has the potential to grow into a citywide event in the years ahead.
The way the charter amendment is written, if any one of those international visitors contacted our government, perhaps even in a life-threatening situation where they needed emergency medical care or just to get directions, our government employees would not be able to communicate with that visitor in their native language, even if we had the capacity to do so. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not the message we need to send the international community.
We have dozens of companies in Nashville participating in international commerce, and prospects for attracting many more. My office of economic and community development and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce work every day to attract business relocations and expansions to our city, something we must continue to do if we are to grow our economic base. Nashville’s growing importance as a center of international commerce is evidenced by the location of the Consular Office of Japan, which opened here this year.
Under the charter amendment, if Nashville wanted to communicate with a foreign-based company to encourage them to come to Nashville – and the recent announcement of Volkswagen in Chattanooga is a good example of the significance that could have – if we wanted to do that communication, whether it’s a letter or conversation in person, in the company’s native language, we wouldn’t be able to.
Nashville participates in the Sister Cities program. We have sister cities in Northern Ireland, France, Canada, Germany and China. This is a program built around the concept of promoting international cooperation and understanding. This amendment would prevent us from communicating with the municipal leaders we’re associated with through our sister city relationships in languages other than English.
We have a number of political refugees living in Nashville – people who have come to the United States from places like Sudan and Somalia who are escaping persecution in their own countries because of their religious beliefs or political beliefs. We need to be able to help these people assimilate in our community and become productive citizens without a self-imposed barrier on our ability to communicate with them.
People come to our city every year as new, legal residents, whose native language is not English. As a government, we have a responsibility to protect and care for all of our citizens no matter the language they speak. If they are a victim of a crime or reporting a crime, we need to be able to communicate with them.
The negative consequences of this amendment would be very real and substantial. It is a divisive issue, and ultimately, a distraction from those things that are important to us as a city and that we need to be working on together.
The decision to pass the amendment may ultimately rest with the voters. But I wanted to take this time, this opportunity to make sure my voice, as mayor of this city, is heard on this issue, and to assure that everyone fully understands the consequences of passing a law that will tie our hands in the global economy, that will detract from our appeal as an international tourist destination, and that will damage our reputation as a welcoming and friendly city.
Let us not forget, English is the official language of Tennessee. This is not in question. To put it plainly, we have too much potential to allow such an unnecessary change in our law to hurt us in so many ways. Thank you for your time tonight.
Full text of resolution
RESOLUTION NO. RS2008-402 A resolution requesting the citizens of Nashville and Davidson County not to sign the English-only Charter amendment petition cards and not to support it if placed on the ballot.
WHEREAS, a petition drive is currently underway to place a proposed amendment to the Metropolitan Charter on the November 2008 ballot to designate English as the official language of the Metropolitan Government and to require that government services and official communications be provided only in English; and
WHEREAS, in February 2007, former Mayor Bill Purcell vetoed Substitute Ordinance No. BL2006-1185, which would have declared English as the official language of the Metropolitan Government, and would have required that all government communications, publications and telephone answering systems be in English, except when required by federal law or when necessary to protect or promote public health, safety or welfare; and
WHEREAS, in his veto message to the Council dated February 12, 2007, Mayor Purcell referenced an opinion of the Metropolitan Department of Law that Ordinance No. BL2006-1185 was unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, unlike the language contained in Substitute Ordinance No. BL2006-1185, the proposed ballot language contains no exception for public health, safety or welfare, which makes the ballot measure more likely to be found by the courts to be unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, English is the common and unifying language of the United States of America, and is already the official and legal language of Tennessee; and
WHEREAS, English acquisition among new immigrants and refugees is a critical factor in their ability to obtain gainful employment, participate fully in the community, integrate successfully into American society, and qualify for United States citizenship; and
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County conducted an Immigrant Community Assessment in 2003 (contract #14830) "to gauge the adjustment of immigrants in the Nashville-Davidson county area," finding that roughly one-third of Nashville's foreign-born residents are "linguistically isolated," and making several recommendations to improve integration, which included:
1. "Increasing English-language instructional opportunities that are offered during non-working hours." 2. "Offering more English-language instruction at proficiency levels higher than the elementary level." 3. "Increasing the supply of bilingual emergency-service receptionists and providers".;
and
WHEREAS, an "English Only" Charter amendment would further reduce government services for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals, with a potentially detrimental impact on those who are already linguistically isolated; and
WHEREAS, in addition, such a Charter amendment sends a message to prospective individuals and organizations seeking to locate in Nashville that we do not value diversity in our community; and
WHEREAS, defending a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the English Only Charter amendment would cost the taxpayers of Davidson County hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time when Metropolitan Government employees are being laid off and services are being reduced due to the substantial strain on government resources; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the taxpayers of the Metropolitan Government that this proposed Charter amendment not be placed on the November ballot.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as requesting the citizens of Nashville and Davidson County not to sign the English-only Charter amendment petition cards, nor support the measure at the November 2008 election in the event it appears on the ballot.
Section 2. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.
*The Nashville charter as amended by the petition would read, "[A]ll official government communications and publications shall be published only in English." With no exceptions, the policy becomes a language ban.
English-Only Metro Charter amendment petition is of grave concern to the NAHCC
Negative impact will affect Nashville's image as an inclusive and welcoming city
Through the following press announcement the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (NAHCC), expresses support for Councilman Ronnie Steine's upcoming resolution for the Metro Council to go on record opposing the "English-Only" charter amendment ballot initiative.
English is already the "official and legal language" of Tennessee. In November of 2006, the Council passed resolution RS2006-1650, clarifying that state law already establishes English as the official language, and expressing concern that further English-only legislation could actually be bad for English acquisition.
While no one disputes the importance of learning English, it is of concern to the leadership of the NAHCC the implications of an "English-Only" law.
"The NAHCC is concerned about this proposal's impact to our economy and further economic development. "English Only" will hurt Nashville's tourism from foreign countries - country music is becoming a very popular genre in many foreign countries, many of them Spanish speaking countries- It will put a damper on legal immigration to Nashville" said NAHCC President Yuri Cunza.
"English Only" is very plainly anti- foreigner - it flashes a loud neon sign to all foreign nationals "NOT WELCOME". This does not represent the friendly and welcoming tradition of Nashville.
"Passage of this kind of legislation will damage ongoing efforts by city leaders, neighbors and organizations whose tireless work have made out of Nashville a great place to live, work and visit. Let's not further affect the economic growth and opportunities for our city and its people by showing and unwelcoming side of Nashville that does not reflect its residents" added Cunza.
The NAHCC has been instrumental in improving the image of our businesses and the community at large, promoting the importance of creating avenues designed to improve trade and communication levels.
"We want to encourage all Council members to support Councilman Steine's resolution as a display of solidarity in standing behind the multitude of important reasons "English Only" would be poor public policy and not good for Nashville" says Luis Bustillos Vice-Chair of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The proposed ballot initiative is "English-only" not "English-first." The initiative is an attempt to eliminate the use of all non-English languages by Metro government. The word "only" appears twice in the proposed language, and the word "first" doesn't appear at all. The outright prohibition is excessive and potentially dangerous. It will almost certainly be found to violate federal law and the city could end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars defending this misguided ballot initiative, only to see it struck down in court.
The promotion of "English Only" says to new businesses and students considering Nashville that foreign people are not welcome and will not be accommodated. According to the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Japanese investment alone in Tennessee exceeded $9.4 billion in 2004, creating over 40,000 jobs.
"The threat to public safety and the ability of Nashville government to communicate with all city residents would be seriously compromised if this and other similar legislation came to fruition. Imposing an artificial language barrier will create confusion and make all Nashvillians less safe and divided" added Loraine Segovia a member of the Executive Board of the NAHCC.
Republican National Hispanic Assembly forms Tennessee chapter
"A forum for Hispanic Americans to play an influential role in local, state, and national political activities"
Born from candidate Nixon's "Spanish Speaking Committee" and George H.W. Bush's "Spanish Speaking Advisory Committee" Thanks to Kleinheider for pointing out the newly formed local chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly.
From the press release:
The Republican National Hispanic Assembly announced the formation and slate of officers of its Tennessee Chapter at the inaugural state chapter meeting on Thursday, July 31, 2008. The mission of the chapter is to build a membership organization to foster the principles of the Republican Party in the Hispanic community, to provide a forum for Hispanic Americans to play an influential role in local, state, and national political activities, and to create and maintain a network of Hispanic Republican leaders.
“The Tennessee Chapter is excited about spreading the core principles of the Republican Party throughout the Hispanic community in our state,” said Chapter President Raul Lopez. “In addition, we look forward to electing Republican candidates who represent these core values of family, faith, and freedom. As a growing voting bloc, Hispanics will play an increasingly important role in the political process in Tennessee and across the country.”
Guests at the inaugural meeting included Republican officials from across the state including Governor Winfield Dunn, State Senators Jack Johnson, Jim Tracy, and Bill Ketron, and State Representatives Debra Maggart, Beth Harwell, Glen Casada, Susan Lynn, and Dolores Gresham.
According to the national web site, the RNHA's origins date back to the 1972 Republican presidential campaign, which included a "Spanish Speaking Committee":
The 1972 Presidential campaign, for the first time in U.S. history, created an outreach committee to involve Hispanic American voters in politics. The Spanish Speaking Committee for the Re-Election of President Nixon was instrumental in the acquisition of 60% of the Hispanic vote.
In 1972 President Nixon appointed George Bush as Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Reviewing the substantial gains scored by GOP candidates among voters of Hispanic background during the past election, Bush believed there was a need to keep all those Hispanic Americans who participated in President Nixon’s presidential election in the ranks of the Republican Party.
In April of 1973, Chairman Bush announced the formation of the Spanish Speaking Advisory Committee to the RNC to expand and improve the participation of Spanish surnamed persons in the Party.
Under the leadership of the national members of the Spanish Speaking Advisory Committee the RNHA was officially born...
Fabian Bedne announced his support for Bob Tuke for U.S. Senate:
I hope you don't mind me wanting to help my friend Bob. I meet him when he was the Chairman of the TN Democratic party, I wanted to ask him for help in finding avenues to integrate Latinos into the political process. He was ready to go, he came up with great ideas and immediately offered his help to make it happen. He helped create the Middle TN Hispanic Democrats, and has been a member ever since.
Bob is a good man, he has served our country and community, and now I am asking for your help to elect him in the coming Democratic Primaries.
I want to keep this e-mail brief, so to learn more of why Bob Tuke will be great at the US Senate, please check his web site at http://www.tukefortennessee.com/
Early voting is going on now.
Thanks for your consideration.
Fabian Bedne has been featured various times on HispanicNashville.com as a board member of Habitat for Humanity, founding member of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, president of the Tennessee Hispanic Voters Coalition PAC, founding member and president of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats, candidate for Metro Council, and member of the executive committee of the Davidson County Democratic Party.
Eaton: citizenship for ordinary immigrants; won't sign "worthless" English-only laws
Former Nashville mayoral candidate and current U.S. Senate candidate Kenneth Eaton was interviewed by The Greeneville Sun, speaking about a variety of topics including immigrants and the laws that relate to them. While mostly aligning himself with the more statesmanlike politicians in this field, Eaton does use insensitive language in the interview:
Statesman:
[T]hose whose only crime is illegal immigration that are productive workers should be allowed citizenship. ... I support English as the official language of the United States, but I will not sign my name to worthless legislation that actually would infringe upon the rights of those who speak English as a second language.
Insensitive:
Eaton used the word "illegal" as a noun, a usage which has been widely condemned (see story here).
When Eaton was a mayoral candidate, the Hispanic Nashville Notebook judged his performance at a immigrant-focused forum as "Best Use of Humor" (story here). (Eagle-eyed RSS subscribers will have noticed that this post was originally bestowed with a more simplistic draft title, "Eaton good on immigration." Hitting "publish" when you are just drafting will do that to you.)
Hispanic kids who fled Robertson County schools in January returned in time for federal tests
Officials needed everyone to be prepared
89% of Hispanic students never left The Tennessean reports here that most of the 90 Hispanic students (both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens) who fled Robertson County schools in the wake of January immigration raids are back and have taken federally mandated No Child Left Behind tests:
When at least 90 Hispanic students disappeared from Robertson County classrooms last winter, school administrators worried.
If the children, about 11 percent of the total Hispanic student body, didn't come back right away, they'd be too far behind to succeed on spring achievement tests. School leaders didn't know if they would turn up the day before the tests, unprepared but counting toward countywide performance anyway.
In the high-stakes world of the federal No Child Left Behind law, every group of students needs to pass.
The fears weren't realized. Most of the students, who left over fears of immigration raids, came back in time to get ready.
The improvement in scores over last year's performance was enough to earn the county "improving" status
The original story about the disappearance of the students, who represented about 11% of the overall Hispanic student body in the county, is here.
AVANCE seminar offers comprehensive integration orientation for Spanish-speakers at Belmont tomorrow
Conexion Americas will host its annual AVANCE Spanish-language seminar at Belmont University tomorrow, July 26, from 9:30am to 3:30pm. The seminar will cover topics designed with Conexion Americas' mission in mind - "Promoting the social, economic and civic integration of Latino families in Middle Tennessee" - and will specifically include personal finances, insurance, homeownership, and consumer protection, as well as "creating a family plan in case of deportation or detention, and rights and responsibilities in the United States," according to this announcement:
Dear Community Organizations,
Attached you will find an invitation and information about a free educational conference for the Latino community this Saturday, July 26 from 9:30am-3:30pm at Belmont University.
“Avance 2008: Infórmate Hoy para Lograr un Mejor Mañana!” - Information Today for a Better Tomorrow – is a seminar on topics such as immigration, legal education, creating a family plan in case of deportation or detention, and rights and responsibilities in the United States. The event will also include a motivational keynote speaker with information about how to be successful in the United States. AVANCE is completely free of charge. We will provide breakfast, lunch and childcare. Interested participants can register for the event by calling (615) 269-6900.
Please inform any Spanish-speaking clients which your organization serves about this event. Feel free to print the attached invitation to distribute or let us know if you need additional information!
Visaless pregnancy, two Nashville law enforcement agencies put city under national scrutiny
Berry Hill officer, Davidson County Sheriff's department draw questions, ire over arrest, jail stay, and entry into 287(g) system of Juana Villegas
Tim Chávez files Amnesty International complaint, warns against visits to Music City
Backlash over restraintsThe New York Timesreported Sunday on the Berry Hill arrest and Davidson County incarceration of a visaless, pregnant Juana Villegas*, who gave birth while in custody. Villegas is a current resident of Nashville who has lived in the U.S. as far back as 1996** and is originally from Las Cajones, Guerrero, Mexico.
Tim Chávez, the former Tennessean columnist who started his own blog Political Salsa in May of this year, brought local and national attention to the story of Villegas' arrest and, particularly, the restrictions over her and her baby during her incarceration. Chávez filed a complaint with Amnesty International and has promised to warn everyone he encounters outside the city not to visit Nashville, until state lawmakers step in (original post here).
Most of the voices crying foul in and outside Nashville are calling into question the restrictions over Villegas' movements while in the late stages of labor and delivery, as well as her ability to be with her child - which have all been defended by the Sheriff's department as standard procedures regarding a pregnant woman in custody. The practice and the policy are being described by the growing list of critics as a human rights violation that far exceeds the boundaries of humane and reasonable conduct.
Metro policy: citation, not arrest, with I.D.
The fact that Villegas was arrested at all is one that has dismayed local immigration advocates, including Gregg Ramos, who is trying to keep ordinary immigrants out of the local crackdown on illegal immigration and has been quoted in a few stories including the New York Times piece. The general understanding among advocates like Ramos is that an officer's decision to arrest a person turns on whether that person can be identified. In May, Metro police chief Ronal Serpas confirmed this to the Tennessean:
[I]t has long been our policy, as provided by Tennessee law, to issue arrest citations whenever possible. Officers have no choice but to make physical arrests in cases where the defendants cannot or will not offer satisfactory evidence of identification. Unlicensed persons who choose to drive without proof of identification will be arrested regardless of race or ethnicity.
In Villegas' case, she had on her person a photo I.D. with her name on it, issued by her country's consulate. According to the New York Times piece, her immigration status was neither checked nor confirmed until after she was arrested:
After Mrs. Villegas was taken to the Davidson County jail, a federal immigration agent working there as part of the cooperation agreement conducted a background check. It showed that Mrs. Villegas was an illegal immigrant who had been deported once from the United States in March 1996, Karla Weikal, a spokeswoman for the county sheriff, said. She had no other criminal record.
If Berry Hill officers are arresting people instead of giving them citations in the hope that their immigration status will be checked by the Davidson County Sheriff once in custody, that could be driven by racial profiling, which is illegal by statute in Tennessee as of this year. Reporting on this story has been too light to draw any real conclusions. One would want to know what the standards are for arrests in Berry Hill (a different police department from Serpas' department, even though both are inside the shared boundaries of Metro Nashville/Davidson County), and what information is available to Berry Hill officers on the street at the time the arrest-or-citation decision is made, and how that analysis was made in this case in particular.
287(g) designed with dangerous criminals in mind, but 80% of charges are for misdemeanors
The reason advocates want ordinary immigrants to stay out of the Davidson County jail, and therefore out of the 287(g) system, is that they say the program was promoted as a weapon against violent criminals. One of the sources listed below has a more recent quote from Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), but when asked about a similar case in 2006 in which a Nashville woman was thrown into jail after a minor traffic offense, ICE spokeswomen Temple Black told the Tennesseanhere that the result was puzzling:
Temple Black, spokesman for ICE [formerly known as INS] in the Southeast, seems puzzled that Metro law enforcement would expend resources on busting undocumented workers who aren’t dangerous criminals. "What we are focused on is aggravated felons…. We don’t go down to the Shell Station and pick up [undocumented workers]."
Differentiating between ordinary immigrants and dangerous criminals was a point made by Rick Casares, in an interview here with HispanicNashville.com:
To my knowledge, we do not routinely jail those who jaywalk, litter, or trespass. At this time, mere presence without documents is not a crime, but is equivalent to a civil infraction like those listed above.
Casares also raised the possibility of human rights abuses:
Once we single out a portion of our population and determine that they are unworthy of basic human rights, it becomes easier and easier to justify.
When asked about the program before its implementation in this interview with HispanicNashville.com, Sheriff Hall advised that even misdemeanors offenders who are only issued a citation would be run through the system, but he could not predict the numbers of ordinary immigrants vs. dangerous criminals who would be processed as part of 287(g).
The number turned out to be 80% misdemeanors, 20% more serious violations (story here).
Roundup of coverage
Here is a sampling of the local coverage of Villegas' story:
Political Salsa: "Go to www.nytimes.com and read about the embarrassment brought to Metro Nashville by its sheriff, mayor and congressman"
Tiny Cat Pants: "One Last Things about Juana Villegas DeLaPaz"
Standing FIRM: "Shackled While Giving Birth - Police Abuse 287(g)"
Vivir Latino: "Human Rights Abuses Against Pregnant Undocumented Workers"
*Due to the different rules for Latin American surnames and U.S. surnames, Villegas has also been identified by her mother's surname, de la Paz, so you will also see her identified as "Juana Villegas de la Paz" or "Juana Delapaz," depending on the U.S. source.
**The New York Times reported that Villegas has lived in the U.S. since 1996. Various sources have reported that Villegas was deported in 1996. It is not clear how long Villegas had been living in the U.S. before her 1996 deportation and how soon after her removal she returned.
Stephen Fotopulos: new director of Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
American Dream Banquet July 10
"Together, we will create a better Tennessee" Stephen Fotopulos will become Executive Director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) effective June 30, according to this announcement by Sharmila Murthy, President of the Board of Directors of the coalition:
On behalf of the TIRRC Board of Directors, I am pleased to inform you that Stephen Fotopulos will be the new Executive Director of TIRRC effective June 30, 2008. After an extensive national search, the Board realized that the best candidate for the Executive Director position was actually within our own midst! Stephen joined TIRRC in 2004, most recently serving as TIRRC's Policy Director. As Policy Director, Stephen became a nationally recognized expert on immigration policy. He also partnered with grassroots organizers and communities to translate complex policy positions into effective campaign strategies. We are excited that Stephen is ready to take on the challenge of serving as TIRRC's second Executive Director!
Stephen came to TIRRC in 2004 with an impressive background in public policy analysis, including a Master's degree in Public Administration from Cornell University, as well as significant experience in management within the public sector. While at TIRRC, Stephen quickly became a leader within the organization, substantially bolstering both programmatic and organizational work. During his tenure, Stephen worked with TIRRC's immigrant leaders to help them develop the tools and confidence needed to engage decision makers on the local, state and federal level. He also successfully integrated important allies from numerous sectors in all of TIRRC's policy efforts. Stephen is committed to TIRRC's mission, principles and goals. He believes that immigrants and refugees should lead the campaigns that TIRRC undertakes, and will make expanding immigrant leadership within the membership, staff and board a primary priority during his tenure as Executive Director.
As many of you know, the founding Executive Director of TIRRC, David Lubell, will be starting a Masters in Public Administration program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in August. He will be officially stepping down as Executive Director on June 30, 2008, and will be leaving Nashville in the middle of July. Over the past six months, the TIRRC Board of Directors has been working closely with David and the TIRRC staff to ensure preparedness for David's departure. Now that a new Director has been chosen, the Board has established a Transition Committee to ensure a smooth transition of leadership. The Transition Committee is chaired by Avi Poster, who has over thirty years of leadership experience, both as a former school principal and as a leader in social justice organizations. The Transition Committee also benefits from the guidance of Mary Ochs, an outside consultant who has been working closely with TIRRC for over six years. Mary helped facilitate TIRRC's strategic planning process last year and also served as an outside resource to the Board Executive Search Committee this past year.
I would like to thank TIRRC's Board of Directors, TIRRC's staff, and all of our friends and allies for supporting us throughout the search and transition process. I would also like to give special thanks to JJ Rosenbaum who chaired the Executive Search Committee.
Please join me in congratulating Stephen! I look forward to seeing you at the American Dream Banquet on Thursday, July 10, 2008, where we will have an opportunity to formally congratulate Stephen on his new role as TIRRC's Executive Director and also to celebrate David's great accomplishments as the founding Executive Director!
Best wishes,
Sharmila L. Murthy President, Board of Directors
From Stephen Fotopulos:
A LETTER FROM THE NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: MR. STEPHEN FOTOPULOS
I am honored and excited to be selected as the new Executive Director of TIRRC. When my wife Susannah and I first moved to Nashville in 2004, we knew it would be a great place to raise a family. What we quickly learned was that Tennessee was home to one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the country, and Nashville was becoming the international city of the South. I was drawn to TIRRC because of my graduate studies in immigration policy and the several years I spent living and working abroad. At TIRRC, I have had the unique opportunity to work hand-in-hand with our immigrant neighbors in the struggle to build a more just and equitable society. The past four years at TIRRC have been the most fulfilling work of my career.
TIRRC's mission is to empower immigrants and refugees in Tennessee to develop a unified voice and lead a statewide movement for positive change. Our success as a coalition depends on the increased capacity of emerging, immigrant-led organizations, the continued development of immigrant leadership, and the full participation of these leaders in every facet of our work. I look forward to working with all of you in the coming months, to discuss the ways in which the organization fulfills its mission and to better understand the ways in which we can build upon our strengths.
For the last four years, I have benefited greatly from David Lubell's guidance and friendship, and I am humbled by the responsibility of leading the organization in his stead. The departure of a founding director poses healthy challenges for any organization. I am extremely fortunate to be joined by a dedicated, talented staff and an engaged, visionary board of directors in addressing these challenges. With the continued collaboration of community leaders, allies, and national partners, we will build on the momentum of David's leadership, carry out the organization's strategic plan, and ensure that TIRRC remains one of the most successful coalitions of its kind. Together, we will create a better Tennessee.
"Suspiciously frequent" traffic stops drive Hispanic U.S. citizens out of Robertson County
When your neighbors don't see you as an American anymore, it's hardly a place you can call home
"People in Tennessee are scared of the police, and people in other states think we're racists." The Tennessean reports here that Robertson County has lost a U.S. citizen couple due to "suspiciously frequent" traffic stops. The couple is Hispanic, and Robertson County is one of the Middle Tennessee counties where local law enforcement is introducing new and possibly overreaching immigration bureaucracies.
HispanicNashville.com has reported previously on how Nashville's reputation for southern hospitality is threatened when immigration enforcement efforts turn into a free-for-all against Hispanics in general (story here), and how cities with cold racial and ethnic climates can suffer an exodus of residents and become less attractive to big employers (like Nissan) who are looking to relocate (story here).
The Rev. Tommy Vallejos, executive director of Clarksville-based HOPE, a Middle Tennessee Hispanic Advocacy organization, said he is concerned about Robertson County's two-step policy because officers must work from their suspicions without training in immigration matters. He said deputies have not managed to target "dangerous criminals" exclusively.
And the policy has had an impact that may not have been expected, he said. A Latino U.S. citizen couple Vallejos knows recently left Robertson County, tired of suspiciously frequent traffic stops, he said. And a Latino woman born in Texas considering a move to Middle Tennessee recently called Vallejos with questions about the area he wishes he didn't have to answer.
"This can't be good for Tennessee," he said. "People in Tennessee are scared of the police, and people in other states think we're racists."
The official in charge of the new Robertson County policy is Sheriff Gene Bollinger, who was President of the Tennessee Sheriffs' Association in 2006.
What Hispanic advocates like Vallejos demand, and what Hispanic citizens in general need, are for departments like Bollinger's to protect the public from sloppy police practices that result in, among other things, overzealous traffic stops and arbitrary enforcement based on the way a person looks. If it happens at all, it is a problem for Bollinger to weed out, even if the wrongdoing is not prevalent (in a testament to law enforcement in Robertson County, a previous directive from the Coopertown mayor to target Hispanics for traffic tickets seems to have been ignored - see paragraph about Coopertown here).
Also, most Hispanic and immigrant advocates believe that dangerous criminals should be the focus of immigration enforcement efforts, and not ordinary immigrants without visas, the vast majority of whom are in violation of a law only due to their having a job and not by causing public safety problems. The status quo blanket enforcement attempts, which even when catching criminals lean 80% toward misdemeanors, drain law enforcement resources away from what could be better targeted efforts against violent criminals who truly threaten the public.
Revisiting and revising local immigration practices would not only benefit the residents of Robertson County but would also ensure that Nashville's reputation for hospitality carries into the surrounding counties. What nobody needs is an intended or unintended hostility toward any ethnic group, caused by an indiscriminate attitude toward immigration.
Scene tags CCA for "apathetic treatment" of immigrant children and families
"How would this facility have been if no one found out about it?"
HQ's inner musings still a mystery
"Mommy, where is God that he doesn’t want to help us? Mommy, tell God to come and take us out of here and take us to our house"With its cover story this week, the Nashville Scene becomes the first member of the local media to take Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America to task for its failings related to the imprisonment of immigrants.
HispanicNashville.com, in this story about the Hutto immigrant family detention center in Texas, and in this story about deaths of immigrants in CCA custody, followed extensive news coverage of CCA from various media outlets outside Nashville. The established Nashville media, however, have been noticeably absent from the coverage of their hometown corporation, until now.
The Scene story chronicles the pattern of CCA's "controversies" related to treatment of people in its facilities, including one incident that hadn't been reported before. Unfortunately, the Scene did not leverage its proximity to the company to give readers any insight as to how CCA is facing these issues (Have the executive team, the board, or the shareholders considered big-picture questions regarding the detainment of families and children in general? Has anyone at CCA headquarters asked whether, as Amnesty International asserts, child detention itself is improper? Was there a point when CCA's top attorney should have advised against the contracts to detain children at Hutto, as one letter to President Bush asserts?). Neither CCA nor its corporate insiders are quoted in the article; they refused to comment, and the Scene wasn't able to get anyone at the Burton Hills headquarters to talk about the big picture.
In the last 18 months alone, CCA has been the target of several stinging lawsuits supported by detailed affidavits and third-party reports alleging dangerous and inhumane practices that have put inmates’ lives at risk. Whistle blowers, once in positions of trust at CCA, have emerged from the shadows to tell vivid tales of corporate misconduct. Federal authorities have castigated the publicly traded corporation for operating an immigration detention facility in Texas on the cheap. And at that CCA complex—which at one point forced children of immigrant detainees to dress in prison garb—dozens of incarcerated women and children have come forward with gut-wrenching tales of anguish and neglect. ... Elsa and her children wore prison uniforms and spent hours in their pod, often with no toys or books for the kids. One day, Elsa and her family were in the doctor’s office, where all the kids were playing with crayons. Angelina drew a picture, but a guard grabbed the girl’s artwork. She cried a lot at Hutto, wondering what her family had done wrong.
“Mommy, where is God that he doesn’t want to help us? Mommy, tell God to come and take us out of here and take us to our house,” Elsa recalled her daughter saying. “Mommy, why do they have us as prisoners if we have never killed anybody?” ... By all accounts, Hutto is no longer as oppressive as it was when Elsa and her family first arrived from Honduras. But why didn’t CCA get it right from the start? Or to put it more bluntly, why did a rich company—one with $388 million in revenues last quarter—have to be told by the ACLU to cease treating innocent children like criminals?
“The point I’d like to make is that none of these changes were done voluntarily,” says [Barbara] Hines, the attorney. “When you look at CCA and ICE, the question is, how would this facility have been if no one found out about it?”
Image copyright Nashville Scene. Used with permission.
Mayor opposes sloppy language in charter amendment about language
Familiar, fear-favoring English Forced is back
English Forced is the idea that it is a good idea to prevent foreign languages from being used by government officials, supposedly because it forces internationals to learn English. In reality, there are a variety of reasons folks support English Forced, some of them (but not all of them) being foolish or sinister, or both. Among the factions in favor of it: those who think that hearing foreign languages is "forcing" those languages on them (see here), those who have a generally negative attitude toward people who are different in any way (see here), those who make the mistaken assumption that speaking in another language is an indication of legal status (see here), and those who even scare 287(g)-wielding Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall "to death" (his words).
The movement is now aiming for a Nashville comeback after its 2007 defeat. The Nashville City Paper editorialized here against the whole idea, even offering tips to the opposition. Kay Brooks criticized Nashville Mayor Karl Dean for saying that he is troubled by certain language in the proposed amendment to the Metro Charter (see here) (hat tip: Kleinheider). The Enclave's Mike Byrd takes the City Paper to task for its article about the English Forced campaign that left unchallenged the spokesman's arguments that (1) English Forced helps immigrants learn English, and (2) being married to a Japanese woman insulates him from charges of "being either prejudiced toward Hispanics or from whipping up the uglier fringes of the racist right to go to the polls in November." (Hat tip: Kleinheider again).
I chimed in later, responding to Kay Brooks in the comments section below her post:
The tone of your post implies that we are in a new American era of "handing out rights," but the USA has a long tradition of balancing competing rights and goals. Some rights and goals are simply greater than English-related or immigration-related goals. If Nashville's mayor can tell in advance that an argument that "English trumps everything" is a loser, I'd say it's not such a bad thing that we have a lawyer as a mayor.
Just ask yourself, what "right" is the charter amendment trying to take away? If the focus of the amendment's ire is that Metro communicates in other languages at times, how does that create a "right"? Such a practice may reflect - but not create - long-standing Constitutional rights related to access to justice, for example, in which case Mayor Dean is correct to see in advance that we'd lose a fight to take away such rights. Or, a Metro department might use other languages simply to enhance its ability to fulfill its mission - seeing better results when using certain foreign languages in communications. Again, that choice by Metro does not create any rights on the part of the user; if anything, it is a convenience to the government and a courtesy to the recipient. So the "rights" language is either Constitutionally unopposable in certain circumstances, or it is a straw man, and in either case Mayor Dean is wise to be troubled by the proximity of such sloppy drafting to our city's charter.
If you see this issue through the eyes of Metro departments, at stake is their power to individually determine whether additional languages will better allow them to implement their missions. Micromanaging those departments by putting an English mandate over the entire city will handicap Metro (and thus all of us, if Metro's goals are our goals) and not just our city's international residents. In an English Forced world, this predetermination of priorities would win the day without any weighing of the costs and benefits in each situation. (And if the charter amendment doesn't make this change, what real practical effect is it supposed to have?) As I've said before, Metro currently implements a variety of multi-lingual communication strategies on topics including legal rights, a child's first day of school, domestic violence, recycling, rape victim resources, financial counseling, Homework Hotline, recidivism-reducing DUI education, pet ownership tips, access to health care, and tornado siren instructions - and none of the agencies responsible for those communications have been quoted in any of the articles on the English Forced movement.
By the way, when you comment about citizenship and English proficiency, why the exclusive focus on citizens? There are more people here than just citizens. Foreign spouses can move here years before they are eligible for citizenship.
Finally, you imply that multiple languages in this country is also a new thing that could cost us dearly ("wait until he sees the bill for this new right.") Germantown in Nashville had German-language church services, schools, and newspapers for decades. At the Centennial Exposition for which Nashville's Centennial Park was created, Nashville's German newspapers were rightly lauded as one of the best methods of integrating new German immigrants, because through communications in their mother tongue they could learn about current events even while they were still uncomfortable in English. It wasn't until WWI, cowered by fear of their fellow Americans' anti-German fervor, when the German-Americans scrubbed the German language out of Germantown.
If Dean prefers to maintain our city's welcoming tradition instead of yielding to a movement tinged with fear (or worse), maybe our mayor with the law degree studied a little history, too.
Yesterday I received a robo-call from the pro-English folks. I found it highly offensive and full of fearm-mongering buzzwords, like "taxpayers being forced to pay" for city materials produced in everything from "Spanish to Arabic." The hidden message of that is pretty clear: we're making life easy for terrorists and illegal aliens!
Single fathers without visas are not fathers, according to state rules
Tennessee withholds recognition of parenthood
At a time when American institutions are rightly realizing that immigration law has to be considered in a balance, and in that balance immigration can be and is often less important than other rights and legal responsibilities such as equal protection and the right to marry, the Tennessean reports here that state rules currently put immigration ahead of identifying the parents of a newborn baby. Unvisaed single fathers are being barred from appearing on their newborn child's birth certificate:
In a flurry of pain, excitement and tears, her 7-pound, 1-ounce daughter, Christina, entered the world by emergency Caesarean section. Hours later, Baptist Hospital staff told Hernandez and her then-fiance that his name would not appear on Christina's birth certificate.
It wasn't the hospital's choice. State policy requires unmarried fathers to present government-issued identification or proof they're in the country legally to be listed on birth certificates. And in 2006, Tennessee stopped issuing driving certificates to illegal immigrants.
The pair of unrelated policies is spawning broader emotional, legal and social implications.
Hernandez, a U.S. citizen who works in hospice care, said she doesn't see the correlation between immigration status and fatherhood.
"Now my daughter has a father who loves her and no legal rights where she is concerned, no legal responsibility and no legal recognition that he gave her life," she said.
Even the pundit who the Tennessean quotes as being in favor of the rule calls it "weird."
Photo: from this scene in Back to the Future. The character on the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance floor who tries to separate George McFly from his future wife Loraine (thus threatening the existence of Michael J. Fox's character Marty McFly) is identified in the script as "Obnoxious Kid."
Some of the hardest working yet lowest paid residents of our city will be accompanied by hundreds of students, community organizations and congregations in a march for living wage and workers rights
What: Rally followed by a march for living wage and worker’s rights
When: Thursday June 5th, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Rally at 15th Ave. Baptist Church, 1203 9th Ave. North followed by a march to Metro Court House
Why: The poorest workers, from taxi drivers to cleaning workers at the Sommett Center, desperately need to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.
The Nashville Movement is a growing coalition, of workers, community organizations, students, and congregations, committed to ending poverty, and winning respect, with and for the poorest workers in Nashville. The coalition was formed in 2007 by the Middle Tennessee Jobs with Justice, Nashville Homeless Power Project, the Urban Epicenter, and Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
The Nashville Movement is picking up in the successful legacy of the 1960’s civil rights struggle in Nashville. But now we’re not just organizing for a seat at the lunch table, we want to be able to afford what’s on the menu. The Nashville Movement is laying the ground work for a broad based worker rights movement that can win lasting improvements for the poorest workers.
According to the web site of The Nashville Movement, one of the group's campaigns will focus on day laborers:
Day laborers in Nashville are some of the hardest working, most exploited, least paid workers in the city. This campaign is resolved to make sure their hard work is compensated fairly and that they are treated justly by their employers.
Join local elected officials, candidates, young professionals and the Minority Caucus of YDA on Friday, May 30, 2008 in the Crockett Room of the Nashville Hilton downtown for a reception/fundraiser Friday night. All money raised will go toward the Empowerment Fund to help young dems of color attend future YDA meetings.
Then join us on Sat. May 31st at 10:30am for our meeting where we will discuss Keeping Dr. Martin Luther King's Dream Alive and the work he did for sanitation worker's rights. Confirmed speakers are Larry Smith, Director of Civil Rights of the United Auto Workers and David Welker from the Teamsters.
Formal reprimand for Dickson County Juvenile Court Judge who overemphasized immigration
Second censure for discriminatory conduct
"Perceived predetermination as to Hispanic individuals"
Violations of Canons of Judicial Ethics, U.S. Constitution, TN Constitution
Short of removal, censure is "highest degree of judicial discipline authorized by law"
In balance of laws and rights, equal protection trumps immigration The Tennessee Court of the Judiciary issued a public censure and this letter formally reprimanding Dickson County Juvenile Court Judge A. Andrew Jackson for his habit of issuing rulings against juveniles based solely on the real or perceived immigration status of the children and parents appearing before him. This includes a "perceived predetermination as to Hispanic individuals."
Jerry Gonzalez, who filed the complaint against Judge Jackson and was profiled by the Nashville Scene in 2004 (story here), explained the problem to the American Bar Association Journal as one of Sippenhaft, or kin liability:
"The judge would rule the juvenile was unruly if he found the parents to be disrespectful of the law," the lawyer, Jerry Gonzalez is quoted saying. "Under the statute, being unruly has nothing to do with the parents. They could be drug dealers and it doesn't mean you are."
According to the July 2007 Tennessee Bar Journal, this is the second time in two years that Judge Jackson has received this level of censure for discriminatory conduct:
On May 24, the Court of the Judiciary issued a public censure to Judge A. Andrew Jackson of Dickson County for inappropriate behavior at an August 2006 Juvenile Justice Conference in Memphis. On the evening of Aug. 7, Jackson overindulged in the consumption of alcohol to the extent that he was unable to remember some of the evening’s events. An African-American conference attendee, however, remembers asking Jackson about job opportunities in his area and that Jackson responded with disparaging references about the man’s race and ethnicity. Shortly thereafter, Jackson profanely referred to a conference attendee from Pennsylvania and physically pushed the person. Later that night, Jackson endeavored to coax a female conference attendee to join him on the dance floor. When she resisted, Jackson made a crude sexual remark.
The text of the formal letter of reprimand for the immigration-related conduct is here:
May 16, 2008
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
A. Andrew Jackson Dickson County General Sessions Judge 4000 Highway 48 North Suite 1 Charlotte, TN 37036
FORMAL LETTER OF REPRIMAND
In re: Complaint of Jerry Gonzales against Judge A. Andrew Jackson File No. 07-3154
Dear Judge Jackson:
This shall serve as a public censure pursuant to your agreement with the Investigative Panel of this court and in compliance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-5-301 (f) (5). This reprimand relates to your actions as the Dickson County Juvenile Court Judge in hearing cases in which children appeared before you who were illegal aliens, children of illegal aliens, or perceived by you as being illegal aliens. In juvenile cases in which the defendant juvenile had illegal or questionable legal status in the United States, you consistently determined that the child was dependent and neglected when the petition before you did not seek to have the child declared dependent and neglected and that you also when informed that this was inappropriate conduct, determined each child to be unruly, jailing these juveniles as a result of their status, their parents’ status or your perceived view of the status. This course of conduct was demonstrated in hearings held before you March 14, 2007, April 18, 2007 and May 2, 2007 in the case of a juvenile identified for the purpose of this letter as R. I. so as to protect that juvenile’s identify. In those proceedings you repeatedly asked counsel and the child “if he was illegal.” You announced to counsel your predetermination of the case when you stated “Mr. Taylor, you know what I’m going to do on that don’t you, might as well go on and get your appeal set up.” These statements led to laughter in the courtroom and because of your perceived predetermination as to Hispanic individuals appearing before you. You also in this hearing told the representatives of the child to “Get on over there and get Birch to sign it. It always just irritates me to no end,” referring to the requirement of counsel to seek an immediate appeal from your predetermined judgments and incarceration for juveniles in matters dealing in this particular case with a charge of speeding, expired permit and a seat belt violation.
Your actions in this and other juvenile cases violated Supreme Court Rule 10, Canon 1 requiring a judge to uphold the integrity and independent of the judiciary, Canon 2 requiring a judge to respect and comply with the law, Canon 3 B (2) requiring a judge to be faithful to the law and to maintain professional competence in it, Canon 3 B (5) requiring a judge to perform his judicial duties without biased and prejudice and your conduct in dealing with these juveniles deprived those individuals of equal protection of the law as required by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the equal protection provisions of the Tennessee Constitution. In addition to the violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics and state and federal constitutional rights, your conduct detrimentally affects the integrity of the Tennessee judiciary and undermines public confidence in the administration of justice.
This public censure represents the highest degree of judicial discipline authorized by law short of the Court seeking a judgment recommending your removal as a judge from office. In the future, you are to accord all persons who appear before you equal protection of the law and to decide their case on an independent and fair basis.
Sincerely,
Don R. Ash Presiding Judge Court of the Judiciary
DRA/cg cc. Investigative Panel Disciplinary Counsel
In balance of laws and rights, marriage beats immigration
"Fundamental right" restored
Davidson County Clerk forever holds his peace, at least for nowThe Tennessean reports here that a state law that requires proof of immigration status to get a marriage license is an overreaching into the "fundamental right" of people to marry each other, at least according to the Tennessee Attorney General and the Davidson County Clerk.
The Tennessean says that the bride-to-be at the heart of the story, Nashville lawyer Vanessa Saenz, sued Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen on April 21, challenging the Tennessee law that was the basis of the Davidson County Clerk's refusal to issue Saenz a certificate to marry "the man of her choice." The Tennessee Attorney General then issued an opinion siding with Saenz - echoing federal courts going back to 1967 that have said that the government cannot use certain reasons to restrict the individual right to marry. The Davidson County Clerk reversed its policy in light of the TN AG decision, and because Saenz was no longer barred from marrying the "man of her choice," the State of Tennessee moved for dismissal of Saenz's litigation against Governor Bredesen.
Theresa Harmon of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policy told the Tennessean that she's "had to do some hard soul-searching on these kinds of issues." (Another comment from Harmon framed the immigration debate as a fight for legitimacy; see this post from Nashville blogger Aunt B.)
Prior to the Saenz case, Nashville congregations with unvisaed churchgoers had organized trips to Kentucky to wed, since the Bluegrass State did not have the immigration-related barriers that were found here in Tennessee. The Tennessean reports that last year, for example, St. Edward Catholic Church "coordinated a trip for 20 mostly Hispanic couples to obtain marriage licenses and legally wed in Kentucky, where clerks don't require immigration-related paperwork. [Rev. Joseph] Breen then married them in the church when they returned." (Question - could driving the couples to Kentucky have constituted a federal crime?)
Update 5/28/08: As a result of the AG position, "[a]ll Tennessee counties were told Tuesday they must follow Davidson County's lead and begin issuing marriage licenses to would-be brides and grooms without regard to their immigration status," according to this story in the Tennessean.
Arrest near Nashville for driving foreign passengers without visas
Jose Jasso-Cuevas "convicted of the same federal crime in 2004"
"Unrealistic immigration laws encourage the black market"The Nashville City Paper reported here on the arrest on I-40 in Dickson County of a man driving a vanload of 18 unvisaed passengers. The man was paid $550 per passenger for taking them to various parts of the country, including Tennessee.
Catalina Nieto, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, was quoted by the Tennessean as saying, "Our unrealistic immigration laws encourage the black market for immigrant workers." (story here)
From the City Paper:
The van was driven by a man named Jose Jasso-Cuevas, and this was not his first cross-country trip.
Cuevas is now somewhere in the federal prison system, charged with a violation of federal code for transporting illegal aliens, according to court documents. It is an act federal officials and others involved in combating the practice refer to colloquially as human smuggling.
[ICE Agent Stephen] McCormick’s affidavit and other paperwork in the federal prosecution of Cuevas state there were 18 passengers crammed into the non-descript van, which Cuevas told authorities he had driven to Tennessee on behalf of a “transport company” in Houston. It was not Cuevas’ first trip for that company or in this line of work.
He told authorities he had made three or four trips on behalf of the same company, and that each undocumented persons on board was to pay him $550 once they were delivered to places across the South — Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Apparently, the system for delivering the illegal immigrants was to call a telephone number when he arrived in various states to get the information about where to drop each passenger.
It would not have been Cuevas’ first time in South Carolina. He was convicted of the same federal crime in 2004 there that he is now charged with in Nashville. Court records show he was released with a sentence of time served.
Border Patrol recruiting African-Americans in Nashville
"Here without authority" once applied to "free Negroes" in Nashville
WKRN reported here that the U.S. Border Patrol is recruiting in Nashville this week and is particularly interested in African-Americans, acknowledging that only 1.5% of 16,000 agents are African-American, and of those, only eight are women.
At the Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church, the comment was rightly made that "because it's a federal agency it should represent the population as far as who they hire."
There is no mention, however, of the irony of Nashville African-Americans telling people to stay out, especially in light of
the Nashville sit-ins, in which African-Americans were arrested for going where they were told it was illegal for them to be, with then-Mayor Ben West saying,
As God is my helper, the law is going to be enforced in Nashville;
But we will gladly hail all voluntary free labor to elevate the laborer, whether from Europe, Asia, Africa or the West Indies, and extend a brother hand to secure him in his liberty the right to his toil and to uphold this government upon equality....;
Three arrests reveal Franklin-Mexico drug connection
"Large sums of money"
WSMV reports here that Franklin Police busted drug runners funneling cocaine from Mexico to Nashville and wiring "large sums of money" back to Mexico in return. Three arrests were made.
A similar bust was made by Metro and Brentwood police in June 2005 (story here).
The Nashville Scene let Music City know here that Tim Chávez has started his own blog - Political Salsa. The Scene reported last September (see here) that Chávez had been fired as a columnist of the Tennessean after his absence due to leukemia. At the time, Chávez said that "he regrets more than anything not having a farewell column to thank his readers for their good wishes."
Chávez tells the Hispanic Nashville Notebook that his goal for the new site is to "concentrate at least four to five days a week on political happenings nationally and locally for Hispanics."
Deaths of ordinary immigrants puts Corrections Corporation of America on front page of NYT
Thirteen lose their lives behind CCA walls, some cases never previously made public
"Basic standards of decency and fairness... means lifting the veil"If you have a loved one who was born outside the U.S. and is not yet a citizen here, please read the front-page Monday New York Times article about deaths in immigrant detention. If you live in Nashville, not only are your tax dollars paying to incarcerate non-criminals in some cases, but the name of your corporate neighbor Corrections Corporation of America is part of the story. And it's not the first time CCA's connection to the federal immigration bureaucracy enforcement is the subject of major media scrutiny. Just two months ago, the New Yorker put the spotlight on CCA for its former prison facilities which now house ordinary children and their families. And to my knowledge, this streak of bad press about a Nashville corporate citizen has still not been the subject of any investigative journalism in the Nashville papers, either in a story about CCA itself or in the context of the nomination of CCA in-house counsel Gus Puryear to the federal bench.
Put yourself or your loved one in the shoes of the detained immigrants and families featured in these stories.
Mr. Bah’s relatives never saw the internal records labeled “proprietary information — not for distribution” by the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the New Jersey detention center for the federal government. ... Four days after the fall, tipped off by a detainee who called Mr. Bah’s roommate in Brooklyn, relatives rushed to the detention center to ask Corrections Corporation employees where he was.
“They wouldn’t give us any information,” said Lamine Dieng, an American citizen who teaches physics at Bronx Community College and is married to Mr. Bah’s cousin Khadidiatou. ... The Public Health Service did not respond to questions, and the Corrections Corporation said medical decisions were the responsibility of the Public Health Service. ... Four sons in another family, in Sacramento, described trying for days to get medical care for their father, Maya Nand, a 56-year-old legal immigrant from Fiji, at a detention center run by the Corrections Corporation in Eloy, Ariz.
Mr. Nand, a legal immigrant from Fiji who was diabetic, had been calling his family with mounting desperation over a 10-day period, the sons said. Already ailing when he was abruptly taken into custody at the family’s home in Sacramento early in the morning of Jan. 13, 2005, he had deteriorated after a week at the Arizona detention center, which is run for the federal government by Corrections Corporation of America, a publicly traded prison company. ... Asked about Mr. Nand’s treatment, Corrections Corporation officials said in a written statement that he had been medically screened when he arrived at the Eloy center, seen and treated “multiple times” by its medical staff, and taken to a hospital. According to a government list of deaths in immigration custody, Mr. Nand was one of five detainees to die at Eloy within a 26-month period; none of the deaths have previously been brought to public attention.
Privately run centers had 32 percent of the deaths, even though they housed only 19 percent of detainees over all, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
There are more than 300 detention centers around the country, but one private operator, the Corrections Corporation of America, had 13 deaths in its centers...
The government urgently needs to bring the detention system up to basic standards of decency and fairness. That means lifting the veil on detention centers — particularly the private jails and the state prisons and county jails that take detainees under federal contracts — and holding them to the same enforceable standards that apply to prisons.
Indeed, there has been little coverage of the connection between CCA's policy of secrecy that hides details concerning in-custody deaths and the man who enforces that policy -- CCA general counsel Gus Puryear, who's been nominated by President Bush for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. To learn more about Mr. Puryear's nomination, visit: www.againstpuryear.org.
The Tennessean reported here that among the approximately fifty people at last week's vigil were people identifying them as "'student,' 'musician,' 'woman,' 'Christian,' and 'advocate.'" Also in attendance were representatives from the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, according to the article.
Excerpts from the article:
"I wanted to show my support for these poor people who are essentially being punished for working hard," said Gregg Ramos, a Nashville attorney and self-described "advocate" who attended the vigil in Nashville. "I wish we in America would treat them better."
Representatives from the AFL-CIO, NAACP and other groups were present.
Ramos says there is virtually no way for most foreign-born workers to enter and work in the U.S. legally because only 5,000 visas are given to low-skilled workers each year. ... Consumers and companies have benefited from the labor of illegal workers. But, illegal workers are generally punished alone when caught, advocates say.
Vigil Tuesday for five Chattanooga women held for deportation
Bear-trap bureaucracy sparks statewide outpouring of support
One hour of silence and prayer
"Sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the streets"
No criminal chargesThe Tennessean reported here that women from the recent immigration raids in Chattanooga are being held in Nashville awaiting possible deportation. According to this web page produced by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the detained Chattanooga women are held and will be processed for deportation without being charged with a crime.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Davidson County public defender Ivan Lopez was quoted in this front-page article in the Tennessean on Sunday as saying that a Nashville-ICE partnership program called 287(g) "was sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the street" but that "[i]n reality, what's happening is you are breaking up families." The 287(g) program and the Chattanooga raids have in common that ordinary people are being put through extraordinary suffering, primarily for regular work that has been made into an outlaw act.
The detentions are another example of how our immigration system isn't broken; it's a fully functioning bear trap for ordinary immigrants (see stories here and here).
A vigil for the detained women and their families will be held on Tuesday outside the Nashville detention center on Harding Place, in coordination with other vigils in Chattanooga and Memphis. Details about the vigils from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC):
VIGILS TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 29th in CHATTANOOGA, NASHVILLE, and MEMPHIS
Join us as we stand in solidarity with the workers affected by these inhumane acts. Click here for more information
As many of you know, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) performed major raids across the country on April 16th, including one in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The raid in Tennessee—at a "Pilgrim's Pride" Poultry Processing plant—resulted in the arrest of 156 immigrants.
The raids have devastated Chattanooga's immigrant community, and have sent shock waves across the region.
Men in Georgia—women in Nashville. While it should be noted that 32 women who were identified as mothers were released on Thursday, families have still been torn apart and are struggling to reconnect. Immigrant rights groups across the region are attempting to assimilate a complete list of the workers detained. However, many workers are still missing and their locations remain unknown.
“The raids in the poultry processing plants in the southeast are disheartening and immoral. Even worse is the breaking up of families. We will pray for these women and their families."
Rev. Jeannie Hunter, Associate Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church.
“All workers and their families deserve being treated with dignity. The workers who are detained are victims of the employers and the broken immigration system. It is the federal immigration system that needs to be held accountable. The workers need their rights protected. ”
Megan Macaraeg with Jobs with Justice
Vigil for Worker Rights and Dignity "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Vigils will be held in Memphis, Chattanooga, and Nashville.
Where: Harding Detention Facility (5115 Harding Place, Nashville TN 37211) where five women from Chattanooga raids are being held.
Join us as we stand on the sidewalk in silence and in prayer for an an hour. Organizers will provide signs with the MLK quote. All people deserve to be treated with dignity.
Information on the Chattanooga and Memphis vigils will be available shortly.
Vigils, Forums, and Organizing has been made possible thanks to the hard work of the following organizations and individuals: THANK YOU
Justice for Our Neighbors
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)—Elise Shore
La Paz de Dios—Sylvia Rangel and Stacy Johnson
St. Andrew's Center—Mike Feely
Coalicion de Lideres Latinos—America Gruner
ACLU of Tennessee—Tricia Herzfeld
The Steel Workers Union
Jobs with Justice
The many immigration attorneys throughout the state and beyond who have offered their advice and assistance throughout this emergency.
All the individuals who have given their time and energy towards helping the familes affected by the raids.
Raids denounced as immoral, double standard, threat to society
Arrests in Chattanooga, some detained in Nashville
"We will pray for these women and their families"
"Not one good old anglo saxon name amongst them"In the aftermath of recent, nationwide immigration raids that netted 300 arrests, some of which occurred in Chattanooga, with some of the arrestees being sent to Nashville for holding pending deportation, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) issued the following press release denouncing the practice. TIRRC Policy Director Stephen Fotopulos (and others) also condemned local immigration enforcement as too broad in this recent editorial.
The text of the press release is here:
Yesterday, while Pope Benedict XVI asked President George W. Bush for the humane treatment of immigrants in the United States, ICE raided Pilgrims Pride Chicken Plants across the nation. At the time when President Bush spoke about freedom in a ‘spirit of mutual respect,’ over one hundred and fifty immigrant workers were rounded up and subjected to detention and interrogation at the Pilgrims Pride chicken plant in Chattanooga. The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition denounces yesterday’s harsh raids and calls on ICE and President Bush to treat all people with dignity and respect.
"Rounding up hardworking parents and spouses and imprisoning them does not make this country stronger. Rather, it shatters families and sows fear, trauma and isolation, weakening the moral and social fabric of our society," said David Lubell, Director of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). “Let’s stop tearing families apart. Let’s be compassionate and stop this tragedy of separating parents from their children, and wives from their husbands. Instead, let’s have our federal government fix the broken immigration system” said Mr. Lubell.
Although hundreds of workers were rounded up at Pilgrim’s Pride yesterday, it should be noted that no one at the managerial or executive levels of the company were detained or even charged. In response to this disturbing double standard, Megan Macaraeg with Jobs with Justice had this to say: “Investigating unscrupulous hiring practices is one thing, but we don’t need to be punishing the workers for trying to support their families. All workers and their families deserve being treated with dignity,” Macaraeg said. “The workers who are detained are victims of the employers and the broken immigration system. It is the federal immigration system that needs to be held accountable. The workers need their rights protected, and the children need their parents back,” said Macaraeg.
Many in the Nashville community see the recent raids as morally reprehensible, and the wrong approach to addressing the immigration issue. “The raids in the poultry processing plants in the southeast are disheartening and immoral,” said Rev. Jeannie Hunter, Associate Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. “Even worse is the breaking up of families, mothers from their children, which is happening as a result. Christians should urge lawmakers to return children to their parents. We will pray for these women and their families,” said Rev. Hunter.
Local blogger Aunt B. recently lamented here the view expressed by Mack that American factories losing workers will lead to American suffering, and that
it’s going to take this suffering and more to get people to change their minds–that it’s going to take folks losing their nurseries or not having anyone to help them clean up after a tornado or businesses leaving or refusing to come here in order to get people to realize that, in their efforts to hurt others, they’re also hurting themselves.
A thought for the executive branch in Tennessee and D.C.: enforce the laws to the letter until we Americans feel how harsh our immigration system is. As commentator Sean Brainsted said in a different context here, "The more that rich and powerful people are held accountable to the same laws that poorer people are, the more likely we are to get rid of ridiculous laws."
There are two categories of victims of current U.S. immigration policy. My comments and Mack's comments address what would happen when the people writing the laws feel the pain of full enforcement of those laws. Currently, the suffering of those subjected to the laws but not able to directly influence them is much more prevalent. It's only a matter of time before the misery strategy moves the Doomsday Clock to the time when we wake up and see how awful we have become.
If we are willing to listen, however, we can be inspired to change our laws without such suffering. From USA Today:
"The pope can't change the laws of our country," [Bishop Thomas] Wenski says. "Hopefully he will touch the hearts of many people in our country."
Judging by one of the comments following the editorial authored by Fotopulos, Renata Soto, Elliott Ozment, Gregg Ramos, Rick Casares and Salvador Guzman, however, we need some divine intervention:
Look at those names of contributors to the article. Not one good old anglo saxon name amongst them.
Volunteer tax preparer says illegal immigrants among Hispanic clients
The Associated Press interviewed Martha Pantoja, a volunteer tax preparer for the non-profit Nashville Wealth Building Coalition. According to the article, Pantoja said that illegal immigrants are among her Hispanic clients filing tax returns:
[S]ome illegal immigrants choose to file taxes and write a check come April 15, using an alternative to the Social Security number offered by the IRS so it can collect income tax from foreign workers.
"It's a mistake to think that no illegal immigrants pay taxes. They definitely do," said Martha Pantoja, who has been helping Hispanic immigrants this tax season as an IRS-certified volunteer tax preparer for the non-profit Nashville Wealth Building Coalition.
Among those she has assisted is Eric Jimenez, a self-employed handyman who has worked in Nashville for several years. He feels obliged to pay taxes — even though, as Pantoja said, "nothing would happen" to him if he did not.
"I have an idea, a mentality, that to be a good citizen you have to pay taxes," he said. "Also, I'm conscious of the fact that the money we pay in taxes supports the schools and all the public services."
Pantoja said she has helped a number of construction workers who, because they are classified as independent contractors by their employers and have no taxes withheld, owe big tax bills come April. Beyond income tax, they have to pay the full Social Security and Medicare taxes due.
The Social Security Administration estimates that about three-quarters of illegal workers pay taxes that contribute to the overall solvency of Social Security and Medicare.
Hispanic Nashvillians judge U.S. President candidates
Tim Chavez, Gregg Ramos, Fabian Bedne, Raul Lopez, and Dennis Nunez weigh in
"Both parties have betrayed Hispanics"
"I remain hopeful that this country will be better, more tolerant, and more accepting of those who may be a bit different"The Hispanic Nashville Notebook asked some local voters who they support for U.S. president, and why. Here are the responses that came in.
Tim Chavez, columnist:
I'm neither a Republican or Democrat. Both parties have betrayed Hispanics.
Locally, Democrats and liberals were denying English language instruction to Hispanic children in kindergarten when I was investigating Nashville public schools in 2000 and 2001 following complaints by ESL teachers. I took that wrong and others to an official with the Clinton administration who was working for the Al Gore campaign. She sought me out as to why I was criticizing her candidate and party in my column for betraying Hispanic children. Yet she did nothing. Now Janet Murguia is the head of NCLR.
Overall, the Democratic Party is first beholden to the African-American political lobby. So it has been interesting to watch the split of this partnership by the Clinton-Obama race. And ironically, it was Hispanics in California, Nevada and Texas who rescued the floundering campaign of the wife of the supposed "first black president."
Only the election of George W. Bush brought action locally when I took the ESL wrongs to his administration during a White House visit. The district was subsequently found by the U.S. Department of Education to be out of compliance with a federal agreement on ESL education.
But now the Republican Party is driving anti-immigrant legislation in Congress and at the state Capitol. Their efforts have stigmatized all Hispanics, citizens or not. Republicans refuse to recognize the contributions of undocumented workers to this economy and their wealth. Half of undocumented workers initially enter the U.S. on temporary work visas. American businesses need Hispanics either because citizens here are too lazy to work or the businesses are paying too little for too much work. So Republican efforts smack more of bigotry than protecting the security of this nation. I can't be one of them either.
So I look at the candidate. I reject political labels of parties or ideologies. Labels just allow the other side to dismiss you.
I fought the TennCare cuts in my column. That would be considered a liberal position. I have opposed abortion, except in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother immediately endangered. That's considered a conservative position. I oppose capital punishment; liberal. I like George Bush for No Child Left Behind, his humanitarian efforts in Africa and for trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform instead of punitive measures proposed by most Republicans; conservative. I support universal health care; liberal. I believe the mainstream news media has a liberal bias; conservative.
I could go on. But I've written too much.
Gregg Ramos, attorney:
I am supporting Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. This was a very difficult decision for me to make since I think highly of both Senator Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. I am incredibly impressed with their intellect, knowledge of the issues and communication skills. I also believe they are very similar from an ideological point of view. What tipped me in favor of Senator Obama however, is that for whatever reason Sen. Clinton seems to rub more people the wrong way. That is, her negative ratings are considerably higher than are Senator Obama’s. I believe this is quite unfair but is just the way it is for reason(s) I can’t pretend to understand. Since I believe this election may very well be decided by Independents and disgruntled Republicans who are tired of the status quo, it is my judgment that Sen. Obama will stand a better chance of attracting these crucial voters than will Senator Clinton. Hence, I am backing Sen. Obama.
I will add that although I disagree with Republican Senator John McCain on several issues, especially his stance on the war, I have the utmost respect and admiration for him. He was extremely courageous in my opinion regarding his efforts to reach across the aisle to try and achieve bipartisan, meaningful and comprehensive immigration reform. He also remained steadfast in his support for the war in Iraq at a time when the war was not going well and was hugely unpopular with most of the country. This, to me, demonstrated the strength and sincerity of his convictions, even when “smart” politics may have dictated a different position. How can you not respect and admire a person who stands up for what he believes notwithstanding the political consequences? I also appreciate Senator McCain’s ethics reforms and his unequivocal stance against the use of waterboarding by the CIA. John McCain is a true American hero in my opinion and would be a President I could be very comfortable with should he manage somehow to prevail over either one of the above-referenced Democrats in November.
Regardless of which of the above candidates ultimately prevails in November, I remain hopeful that this country will be better, more tolerant, and more accepting of those who may be a bit different.
Fabian Bedne, architect:
I support Obama, not because I think badly of Clinton, I just think that Obama will be less likely to compromise on core ethical issues as he seems to nurture his politics from core convictions. The Clintons have a tradition of pragmatism that may have worked well in the past, but in a moment where certain things need to absolutely get done I feel better with Obama.
Raul Lopez, business owner:
No matter who the Democrats nominate as their candidate, never have the differences on the issues been more stark than today:
Lower taxes vs tax increases Success in Iraq vs surrender in Iraq Strict constructionist judges vs judges who legislate from the bench Health care for American families vs government-run health care Fiscal discipline vs continued pork, wasteful government spending and earmarks
The future will look very different if we do not nominate and elect John McCain
Dennis Nunez, attorney:
I am a Democrat and I voted for Barack Obama. Although I like Hillary Clinton, I am concerned that Hillary will be another polarizing figure in the White House. Personally, I think Hillary Clinton has better credentials than both Barack Obama or John McCain. However, I am looking for a candidate that strongly desires to get us out of Iraq and that can swing independents and moderates to the Democrats.
Tim said, "I like George Bush for No Child Left Behind, his humanitarian efforts in Africa and for trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform instead of punitive measures proposed by most Republicans; conservative."
Actually, those are fairly liberal positions which just so happen to be supported by a conservative Republican.
Eighty percent of Sheriff's deportations are for misdemeanors
287(g) program called a "clumsy tool," hurts integration
Dangerous criminal offenses are not the main cause for deportation under the Davidson County Sheriff's Office's year-old program to enforce immigration law - called "287(g)." Here is an excerpt from last year's interview with Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall by the Hispanic Nashville Notebook:
HNN: Will there be any evaluation of whether 287(g) catches more dangerous criminals than ordinary immigrants, or vice versa? Would you be able to guess now what those statistics would look like?
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall: I won’t predict what any stats will look like, but we do plan to keep extensive, detailed statistics.
[A]ccording to statistics from the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, about 80 percent of those processed for deportation hearings were arrested on misdemeanor charges. Of those, about 40 percent were arrested on traffic offenses such as driving without a license. ... Catalina Nieto, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said that she commends any program that removes dangerous criminals from the streets but that the screening program is a "clumsy tool" to do that.
Although many bemoan the failure of certain immigrants to integrate, one of Nieto's colleagues pointed out in today's Nashville City Paper that 287(g) is one of the many citizen-led programs that has led to increased, not decreased, isolation of immigrants:
“This program has had a very chilling effect on the immigrant community and immigrant community members are much less willing to interact with the broader community,” said Stephen Fotopulos, policy director for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
Rep. Cooper's chief of staff Lisa Quigley has Mexico experience
Also: Hispanic identity through the eyes of congressional interns
The Nashville Post reported here in January that U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper (D-Nashville) hired Lisa Quigley as his chief of staff. Quigley's family spent the last three years in Mexico, according to the story:
For the past three years, Quigley has been living in Mexico City with her family, and has worked as Director of the U.S.-Mexico Congressional Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. ... Quigley will live in Nashville, splitting time between Cooper's Nashville and Washington offices. ... Larry Harrington, Quigley's husband, a Tennessee native and Vanderbilt Law School grad, is well known in Nashville political circles and is concluding an assignment with the Inter-American Development Bank. Harrington, brother of former Nashville General Sessions Judge Penny Harrington, served in the office of then Vice President Al Gore before being appointed US Executive Director of IADB by President Bill Clinton. At the conclusion of his presidential appointment, he stayed on to work for the bank in Mexico.
Speaking of Washington, this Washington Post article from last July provides a unique insight into U.S. Hispanic identity through the eyes of congressional interns. Here is an excerpt:
Washington makes them mad. And it inspires them.
It also has made them think deeply about who they are, and where they fit into this turbulent feat of political imagination and plain winging-it called America.
Such existential ruminations spark other considerations: Whom do you date? How good (or bad) is your Spanish? How comfortable are you with your skin tone? (Too dark? Too light?) Are you American enough? Is the reputation of la Raza riding on your every move -- or is that perpetual feeling of being watched just an illusion?
High school achievement of visaless students unimpeded by government's blockade of benefits of diploma
But college, jobs out of reach of star pupils
Ten local students lobby Senators Alexander and Corker to support DREAM Act
"We don't want to make it worse by raising hopes and then dashing dreams"Middle Tennessee high school students whose problematic immigration status was determined before they became adults, and in some cases without their knowledge, are still succeeding and graduating with great promise, despite the fact that the government currently has a blockade against them, preventing them from using the benefits of a high school education in the United States. Such students cannot often obtain in-state college tuition even they would otherwise satisfy residency requirements, they cannot work legally before or after graduation, and there is a current proposal in Tennessee to keep them out of college altogether even if they paid on their own dime.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition organized a trip for ten local students to Washington, D.C., to lobby Tennessee Senators Alexander and Corker to vote in favor of the DREAM Act, which would reward high-performing high school students and renew practical incentives for success. Alexander and Corker have voted against the DREAM Act in the past.
Moya, 17, may be unable to attend college, though she has a 3.4 grade point average, received unsolicited recruiting packages from Princeton University, and speaks and writes in English and Spanish. Her parents brought her from Mexico to the U.S. at age 8 and enrolled her in Metro Nashville schools. The parents overstayed their visas, making the family illegal.
Two proposed laws — one federal, one state — would deal with Moya's situation in far different manners. The federal Dream Act would let her and students like her enter public colleges and universities and would even hold out a possibility of in-state tuition.
Tennessee's plan would bar state schools from admitting her and others who cannot prove they're in the country legally. Proponents say House and Senate bills would open up spaces for other students. ... The Dream Act, which enjoyed bipartisan support, is stalled in the U.S. Senate after a fall filibuster. Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Republicans, voted against the bill.
Moya and nine other students from across the state climbed into SUVs in Nashville on Wednesday morning to drive to Washington, meet with both lawmakers and try to jump-start it. The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition organized the trip. ... The situation deals a psychological blow to some students, said Jessie Van de Griek, director of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee's Hispanic Achievers' Program. The program opened seven years ago to help Hispanic students — those here legally and those who are not — navigate the college application process and develop leadership skills.
Last year, Hispanic Achievers' began referring students and their parents to immigration attorneys. Some are exploring their options, but none have been able to obtain citizenship or student visas in their home countries. Citizenship is a process that often takes more than a decade.
"It's a key issue," Van de Griek said. "If we are raising the hopes of students who are undocumented and they don't have any way to achieve, we don't want to make it worse by raising hopes and then dashing dreams."
The Tennessee proposal to blockade high performers from college altogether echoes of the doomsday clock and the misery strategy.
Students in similar situations outside Tennessee write the blogs I Am a Shadow and Dreams Unlimited, LLC. Various visaless students in California made their case to break the blockade in this video:
The "lost children" of Corrections Corporation of America
New Yorker magazine intensifies international spotlight on Nashville company
The March 3 issue of the New Yorker included this article entitled The Lost Children, about Correction Corporation of America's private-run immigrant family incarceration facility, the only one in the USA. Corrections Corporation is based in Nashville.
For additional background on this story from the Hispanic Nashville Notebook, see this December 2007 recap.
Despite media coverage in various local, national, and international outlets outside Music City, in the nearly two years since the T. Don Hutto prison was reopened to house families and children in May 2006, the media in Nashville do not appear to have covered this story about one of its most prominent corporations.*
From the New Yorker article:
Kevin, it must be said, was lucky. The plaintiffs’ lawyers soon figured out that the crayons and markers they had brought in to occupy the kids while they talked to their parents could also be politically useful. They were particularly so in the hands of articulate, indignant Kevin. One day, Kevin drew an American flag and wrote “Pleace help us” inside one of the stripes. He drew a picture of his common area, with sofas, tables, “police,” and “camra.” And he wrote a letter to Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, in a rainbow of colors: “Dear Mr. Priminster Harper, I don’t like to stay in this jail. I’m only nine years old. I want to go to my school in Canada. I’m sleeping beside the wall. Please Mr. Priminster haper give visa for my family. This Place is not good for me. I want to get out of the cell.” One of the University of Texas law students, Matthew Pizzo, placed Kevin’s handiwork in his satchel, and Barbara Hines later mailed it to journalists in Canada. Newspapers and bloggers there started covering Kevin’s story. Sometime around then, Hines recalls, she and her students were told by Hutto officials that they could no longer bring in crayons and markers.
*Update March 5, 2008: The Tennessean published this column on Hutto, citing HispanicNashville.com
Tennessee New American Day on the Hill is March 19
Participants to speak directly with legislators
Record sixty-five immigrant-targeting bills in play, including Oklahoma clone and "English Prevention Act"Tennessee lawmakers are considering a record 65 bills targeting immigrants (the bills are described in detail here), and ordinary people who want to have a say for immigrants and against those bills can attend the March 19 "New Americans Day on the Hill," organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition ("TIRRC").
The bills put forward include a proposal to deny adult education - even English classes - based on immigration status, and a verbatim copy of the recently passed and controversial Oklahoma law (stories here).
The last day to register for New American Day on the Hill is today, February 25:
Be the change you want to see in Tennessee!
DON'T MISS THIS EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY TO VOICE YOUR CONCERNS TO STATE POLICYMAKERS
Join us as we advocate on the important state issues impacting the lives of Tennessee's growing immigrant and refugee community.
New American Day on the Hill!
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
(Registration required due to limited space)
We will be visiting Tennessee legislators in two sessions.
Morning Session: 8am-12:30pm (Please be there 7:45am) Afternoon Session: 12:00pm-4:30pm (Please be there 11:45am) We will meet at the Tennessee Bar Association, and will walk together to the legislature following a brief orientation. The Tennessee Bar Association address is: 221 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 400, Nashville, TN 37219
There are currently a record 65 ACTIVE ANTI-IMMIGRANT BILLS pending in the state legislature! For a list of bills click here. Please help us stop these misguided proposals, while at the same time advocating for policies that will help Tennessee immigrants and refugees integrate more effectively into their new society.
The Registration deadline is Monday, February 25, 2008 and is required in order to meet with your local representative. Please register for the morning or afternoon session. This event is FREE and open to anyone who supports the rights of immigrants & refugees. (Parents, Children and Students are welcome)
Please help keep Tennessee moving forward by joining us at this extremely important event!
BE A COMMUNITY SPONSOR!!! If your group promises to turn out five or more attendees, or if you would like to donate in-kind, your organization will be listed on the invitation as a community sponsor. This is a great way to support the efforts of TIRRC while benefiting your organization and its work around the state! For more details, please contact Kasar Abdulla at 615.833.0384 x11 or kasar@tnimmigrant.org.
Two groups of city employees learn Spanish, but Hendersonville offers $5,000 bonus
Murfreesboro to give all PD employees "survival Spanish" by end of year
The Tennessean reported here about a program for Hendersonville employees that "gives them the chance to earn $2,500 if they get credentialed as Spanish court interpreters and an additional $2,500 if they stay with the city for two years."
The article also said that half of Murfreesboro's 271-employee police department was trained in "survival Spanish" last year, and "the rest are expected to train this year." There is no mention of any financial compensation for the Murfreesboro employees.
Cuba is still waiting for its big day, says Ferguson Weir
Cuban-American Nashville blogger Carrie Ferguson Weir of Bilingual in the Boonies reacted to Fidel Castro's resignation here and here. Some excerpts:
When the arch enemy of your people just kinda resigns it's a little bit of a let down. ... For those of you with kind of a passing or romanticized idea of bearded dictators, know this: Bearded Dictator: Bad Bearded Dictator Brother: Badder ... Growing up, I imagined the Any Day Now really could be Any Day Now. I imagined taking to the streets, like we did when the Dolphins won in '72, honking horns, causing traffic jams, waving flags. I imagined the pachanga of a lifetime. A party to last for days, a party to end all parties. The tears of joy, the boats leaving for Havana Harbor and coming from Havana Harbor, just like during the 1980 Mariel Boat Lift.
The Any Day Now of my making would have meant these TV reporters could barely have heard themselves above the total Cuban racket, the kind only Cubans know how to make. But it was so damned calm.
According to her bio, Weir is a former newspaper reporter who now sells a line of Spanish children's T-shirts. She lives on the outskirts of Nashville, "far from the Cuban-American homeland that is Miami."
Vigil unites Hispanics, immigrants, city leaders in face of white supremacist crime in Columbia
"Right-wing terrorist group" members destroyed mosque by fire
Earned promotion for attack
"We run the world," "White Power," swastikas
Vigil response stresses welcome to all
Donations solicited for rebuilding fundNewsChannel 5.com reports here that more than 100 people gathered in a vigil Saturday in support of the recently firebombed Islamic Center of Columbia. WKRN reports here that graffiti from the attack included three swastikas and the words "We run the world" and "White Power." The Tennessean reports here that two of the three perpetrators of the attack have identified themselves as part of the Christian Identity Movement, which the FBI describes here and in this 1989 memo as "a right-wing terrorist group" of fewer than 2,000 followers. The Tennessean says here that followers nationwide now number 50,000, that there are two known chapters of the group in East Tennessee, and that they view non-whites as animals.
The federal government's complaint against the attackers includes a confession that "stripes or promotions are earned for committing acts of violence against ‘enemies,'" according to this story in the Tennessean.
Among those who stood in solidarity with the Center in Saturday's vigil were city leaders as well as immigrant and Hispanic groups:
Organizations such as the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, the Islamic Center of Nashville, the Maury Alliance Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education among others were present for the vigil.
Residents and city leaders in Columbia also stressed the importance of making people of all faiths and races feel welcome in the community.
At a time when hate groups are fueling the "vibrant" national rhetoric about immigrants (see wecanstopthehate.org for more info), the local struggles of immigrants and Hispanics in the face of racism, xenophobia, isolation, and hate crimes have been documented in these and other stories in the Hispanic Nashville Notebook:
Members of the public can put their American values of brotherly love and neighborhood into action by donating to the Islamic Center of Columbia for the rebuilding of the mosque. A fundrasing account has been established at the following bank:
Islamic Center of Columbia Rebuilding Fund
Community First Bank and Trust 501 S James Campbell Blvd. Columbia, TN 38401
931.380.2265
WSMV reports here that area churches have already stepped up, including one that has collected $10,000.
Mid TN Hispanic Democrats elect Bedne, Castillo, Valadez, and Ramos
The Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats announced the results of that group's 2008 elections, with Fabian Bedne as President, Miah Castillo as Vice President, Rene Valadez as Secretary and Gregg Ramos as Spokesperson.
The Hispanic Nashville Notebook asked CCA how the company views the detention of children and families, or allegations of overincarceration - and whether the board or the company wrestles with the moral issues raised by opponents, or whether there is a limit to the kind of policies the company is willing to help implement. Here is the response of CCA VP of Marketing and Communications Louise Grant:
: 11:16 PM
As far as I can tell, the only campaign-level May 1 action item for Nashvillians would be to set up a screening of Made in L.A.:
Photo by Rakka. Licensed under Creative Commons.
vanderbilt.edu
Photo by Rafael Alvez. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Comments on Post Politics:
On February 27, NewsChannel5 reported here that the Metro Nashville Police Department has won national recognition for its El Protector program, which engages the Hispanic/Latino community with communications in both English and Spanish. The Vera Institute of Justice recently recognized the Nashville program in this report of "best practices" by law enforcement officers addressing language-related challenges.
Yesterday, Mike Byrd at Enclave described immigrant policy politics as "a fight to which Tennessee is late in coming..." (see here).
The Knoxville News Sentinel conducted a roundtable interview with local Hispanic business leaders in that city - the article is worth a read.
Aunt B.:
Jay Voorhees:
Rosanne Ferreri-Feski:
Erica Well:
Nathan Moore:
Rob Robinson:
Nathan Day Wilson:
Johnny Ellis:
Todd M. Liebergen:
The Spanish-language local daily El Crucero reported in its October 24 edition that 78% of Hispanic Nashvillians favor Obama, as opposed to 13% who favor McCain.
Gabi Castillo
A Hispanic-American Family Festival and Voter Education and Registration Drive will take place this Saturday:
I'd like to know what's being done to advance the proactive immigration plank of 
Nashville author Edward Ronny Arnold has self-published 
Fabian Bedne has been confirmed as an Obama Alternate Delegate for TN to the Democratic National Convention, the Hispanic Nashville Notebook has learned.
Putting aside for a moment the various other reasons that English Only has been publicly opposed by 
Charlemos Spanish, one of Nashville's Spanish chat groups, sent out this press release announcing its upcoming speakers:
WSMV and the 
Address of Mayor Karl Dean to Metro Council
Full text of resolution
Fabian Bedne announced his support for Bob Tuke for U.S. Senate:
Former Nashville mayoral candidate and current U.S. Senate candidate Kenneth Eaton was interviewed by 
The 
The Associated Press interviewed Martha Pantoja, a volunteer tax preparer for the non-profit Nashville Wealth Building Coalition. According to 
From the New Yorker article:
Cuban-American Nashville blogger Carrie Ferguson Weir of 
The 